Love is spelled r-e-v-e-n-g-e
by alyosha's madness
Summary: It has been one year since the twins were in Gravity Falls, one year since Gideon was locked away. Now they have returned and things are beginning to heat up with strange dreams, lost loves, and a mysterious benefactor with an interest in Gideon.
1. Homecoming

Grey walls and tightly barred windows accompanied officer Verner as he passed through the security checkpoint and entered cell block C.

There was never a good or a bad time to be working at the prison, no one would ever say "I hear this place is lovely in the fall." It wasn't great it wasn't horrible it was just bland and dull and that may have been the worst part of Gravity Falls Penitentiary, unending mind-numbing boredom.

Extra work like this would normally illicit more moaning and groaning from the five year vet, but the hefty addition to his bank account made it easier to swallow the obvious injustices at play here. Not that he cared anymore; years as a prison guard had more than robbed John Verner of any sense of right and wrong he once had.

However, beyond the obvious monetary gain to be had here, there was something else, something that compelled John to go through with the commands of his contactee, it was something in her voice, a small tingle in the back of his brain that coerced him on the more seedier aspects of the deal, setting up an unlawful meeting being just one of them.

Absentmindedly reflecting on his fall from grace and where it all went wrong is his "career" he stopped at the second-to-last jail cell in the block. Peering into the gloom he called out "Gideon Charles Gleeful, looks like ya finally got yer'self a visitor."

The summer sun burned over Gravity Falls setting the town ablaze as thermometers around town reach their boiling points. With a busted a/c unit the effects of the heat wave were felt even more so in the sweaty box of a car the Pines twins were crammed into.

One year had passed since their last summer in the strange town of Gravity Falls. One year since their adventures, crushes, and their battle with Gideon (the very thought of the diminutive monster still sent chills down Mable's spine).

To compensate for the lack of cool air each twin was given a mini electric fan that buzzed at max power providing some relief from the heat. The Radio was pumping out the latest Me$ha West song which Mabel tried to keep tune with a combination of singing and humming improve.

"…And everybody's jumpin' out their seats just to see…um…hmhmhmhmm, hmhmm…POKE, POKE brosama! Come on, sing with me Dipper!"

"Ow, ow Mabel cut it out. I'm trying to concentrate here."

The poking barrage stopped momentarily allowing Dipper to focus on his latest_ Sibling Brothers_ novel. Three sentences later the poking resumed and the case of the carnival conundrum seemed a lost cause. Setting the book aside with a heavy sigh Dipper gave in and provided back up to Mabel's improve singing as the car left pavement and headed down the dirt path toward the mystery shack.

"and no one's ever gonna' stop this train you'd better believe it girl…"

Iron bars and leering prisoners like castrated animals passed by as Gideon was escorted from his own cell. One year, it had been one year since his failed attempt to grab all three journals. One year since the Pines twins wriggled out of his grasp. One year since anyone had been to visit him. ONE YEAR!

But his time in prison hadn't been all bad. Gideon had lost some weight and amassed somewhat of a cult following amongst the other prisoners while in jail. Really it was easy to do, all you needed was confidence and empty promises, if you had that then the mindless fools would follow your every word. Plus, a friendly young serial killer had taught him how to MacGyver up all sorts of interesting and malicious implements.

Suddenly his escort brought them to an abrupt halt just in front of the waiting room doors.

"Welp, this is it kiddo. She's in there" came the monotone voice of officer Verner. Gideon hadn't really paid Verner much attention during his stay in the penitentiary, but he did know his escort well enough to note the upbeat southern twang was missing it cheerfulness, something just wasn't right about him today.

Full of trepidation, Gideon Gleeful stepped through the doors.

The car doors swung open letting in a rush of hot summer air. Mom and Dad piled out right after the twins pulling suitcases and bags from the roof and the trunk. Then with a small kiss and a hug they sped off down the road leaving the twins standing outside the Mystery Shack in a cloud of dust; they were kind of neglectful like that.

Dipper tried lifting the bag closest to him before immediately dropping it. "*huff, huff* jeez Mabel, what did you put into this one?"

"Oh, not much just some art stuff and a grappling hook or two." She said distractedly examining every blade of grass and overturned rock making sure it was all just as she left it. Satisfied, everything was in its "rightful zen place"; Mabel hefted a bag over her shoulder and guided her brother into the Mystery Shack.

The Shack was covered in dust and cobwebs, which was normal. What was strange was the lack of life, no noisy tourists excitedly chatting about all the money they could spend, no TV blaring at an obnoxiously loud volume, nothing. In a cliché: it was quite, too quite.

"Hey Mabel, mom and dad did check to see if gruncle Stan still lived here right?"

"I don't know dipping sauce. Wait, maybe we can live here by ourselves and haunt this place or something like in Scooby Doo! I call headless leprechaun ghost."

"Whatever, let's just find Stan alright."

Just as the twins entered the darkened living room Dipper notice the Surprise banner loosely hanging over the entryway too little too late. The lights flicked on blinding the twins and gruncle Stan accompanied by his ever faithful employees jumped out from behind the couch

"SURPRISE!"

Gideon Gleeful stepped outside the prison gates and took a deep breath, his first taste of freedom in a year. God money was great! It could be used to buy friends, politicians, all the finer things in life and now freedom apparently. Still lost in a trance from his meeting, Gideon walked toward the waiting taxi. This was going to be an interesting summer.


	2. Recap

0 an hour ago 0

Stepping through the waiting room doors of the prison, Gideon winced at the bright florescent lighting humming just overhead. He waited a few moments for his eyes to adjust; the brightness was so different from his darkened cell.

"So you're like, that Gideon kid with the giant robot thingy. Smashed up the old railway lines and like tried to kill that Mabel bitch."

The blond debutant was a far cry from what Gideon had been expecting to find waiting for him in the prison meeting room. Maybe Sandra Jimenez come for a sound bite, maybe his father come to beg for forgiveness, but certainly not this spoiled brat with golden hair and perfectly manicured nails. Never mind how nicely her dress fit her figure, but then maybe his eyes were lingering too much, _better play this one smooth and lay on a little extra charm_ he told himself.

"Right you are my dear, Gideon Gleeful at your se-"

"Yeah whatever. Look, do you know about the journals or what?"

The interruption had caught him off guard. Nobody interrupted him, EVER. Who was this girl? She looked to be about his age. Still, the expensive brand name cloths that most people tried on but never bought, the obvious twice-a-day facial scrubs; this girl came from money and lots of it, maybe even a senator or two in the family. Moreover, she knew about the journals. This admittedly enchanting beast knew about HIS journals, he was going to have to be careful around her.

"Why no, I don't recall any journals. My incarceration in this establishment has really jostled my mem-"

"Cut the act Gideon! I know you want the journals as bad as I do.

"Never mind what for." She snapped before he could ask his next question.

"Get them for me and you'll never have to see the inside of another prison again. Sound fair?"

Clenching and unclenching his fists Gideon let out a deep breath. No one had ever treated him this way before. "Okay fine, but I'm in a little bit of a bind at the moment, if ya can't tell. How-"

"Never mind how, I've asked daddy to take care of it so whatever. Several people have been bought to lose evidence, change stories and retry your case." There was definitely a senator in the family but also maybe a president or maybe a freemason or high ranking illuminati member as well. Whatever the case Gideon was getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"If you're in then your zombified escort will take you to-"

"Wait, wait, wait. Zombified?"

"Never mind, look are you in or am I going to have to find someone else?"

He couldn't lose this, couldn't let someone else take his journals, his rightful power. Besides, another minute in prison and he might actually go insane. "Well, in of course."

"Great, we'll be in touch. Verner will take you to the taxi waiting outside. Go to 412 Gopher Road tomorrow at 9:00 P.M. and maybe you'll learn a little more."

And just like that Gideon found himself in the backseat of a taxi heading to god only cared where, unsure of what was going to happen next.

**000**

"SURPRISE!"

The lights flickered on bathing the dark room in the yellowing glow of dying light bulbs. Eyes slowly adjusting to the light the twins found themselves surrounded by the familiar faces of their coworkers and Gruncle Stan as he pulled both twins in for a hug

"Hey, hey, it's great to see you two knuckle heads again. Getting kind of lonely here with just me and these rubes (motioning to a disinterested Wendy and a slightly distracted Soos).

"It's great being back" chirped Mabel "I have so much to tell you, like how I broke my arm or how Dipper finally stopped being a creepozoid and asked a girl to the big school dance. Pulling Stan close she whispered "he totally got rejected though so be nice about it."

"Not a chance kiddo."

Not much for birthdays, anniversaries, or any kind of celebration for that matter Stan pulled himself away from Mabel.

"Ha-ha, it's great to have you kids back in the old house, the Shack hasn't been the same since you left, but seriously though, celebration's over. Now make yourselves useful and start picking up this mess. Got a whole tour bus of wallets coming out this way and I can't take them for everything they've got with this mess laying around. Bedrooms upstairs by the way and make sure you're unpacked and dressed by dinner." With that Gruncle Stan left the room with Soos in tail giving the twins furtive thumbs up and a quick "Glad to have you back dudes."

The reception may have been lukewarm but Dipper and Mabel were happy to be back in the Mystery Shack, happy to be amongst friends and happy to be around a semi-responsible guardian for a change (at least Stan cooked every once in a while).

Partially out of courtesy, partially out of fear that Gruncle Stan may have been serious about the clean-up duty, the twins began putting away the sparse decorations while Wendy played on her phone on the couch. Once they had finished she put her cell away and stood up "Sorry if Stan seemed abrupt, I think he's just a little nervous about tonight. Something about a big surprise or whatever. The feast of the century he called it" she said motioning with her hands just how legendary a feast it would be.

Walking over to Dipper she gave him a quick kiss on the forehead while Mabel received a playful punch to the shoulder. "Glad to have you doofus' around again, maybe things will start to lighten up around here. I gotta get going but I'll see you guys at work tomorrow."

With that, Wendy waltzed out the door leaving Dipper to stare off in the distance, entranced by the moment. It had been a whole year but his crush on Wendy hadn't gone anywhere. Her rust colored hair, the splash of freckles across her face, her hearty laugh, the faint smell of lilac that wafted over his nose when he stood close to her. Dipper was positive; Wendy Corduroy was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, bar none. Mabel on the other hand tried to be supportive but the sight of her brother contending with puberty was too much. Laughter was almost mandatory.

**000**

As it turns out, Gruncle Stan's big surprise was a dinner at Gravity Falls' most expensive restaurant, The Club. A real rarity for him since anything not marked as discount in the grocery store was highway robbery.

The casino themed restaurant was the fancy sort that served strange artisanal dishes with chefs who have never heard of sizable portions, still the atmosphere was incredible.

Mabel gave a little shiver reminiscing about the night she and Gideon had spent here on that pity date so long ago, his creepy beady eyes burning a hole in hers even as she tried to cover up her face with the menu. *Shiver* _too soon Mabel, too soon_ she thought to herself.

Dinner came and went leaving everyone slightly disappointed with the small meals and empty stomachs prompting Stan to ask "Hey you kids want to get out of this fancy pants high society snore factory and head into town for some ice cream?" enthusiastic nodding followed.

**000**

An hour later the twins were alone in the dust covered attic getting ready for bed. Not much had changed since they left last summer. Their beds folded as if waiting for their return, Mabel's posters still plastered to the wall, affixed in a way that removing them might compromise the integrity of the structure and Dipper's bookcase still filled to the brim, though missing the #3 journal. The only difference seemed to be the growing cobweb issue and something like a low growling coming from under the floor boards that neither twin dared investigate.

"So Dipper, are you going to go all Wendy crazy again or did you finally get over her?" Mabel said as she dug through her suitcases looking for her favorite floppy disk nighty.

Images of Wendy slowly flickered through his mind before landing on the kiss she planted on his forehead mere hours ago. The thought of her soft velvet lips lightly brushing his skin caused him to break out in a cold sweat and made his trademark shorts feel a little tighter.

*pft* "No. Maybe. I don't know Mabel, are you going to go boy crazy again? Honestly, I'm more concerned with surviving another summer here."

"Yeah same here dipper, it's just that, well you know, we're only here for the summer. Sooo….maybe don't focus on Wendy so much, I mean you should make more of an effort with the people at YOUR school in YOUR home town. You know back in California…aha success (3 suitcases and 20 minutes of searching had finally yielded her night gown).

"Mabel, those people hate me and you know it!" (unbeknownst to Mabel her brother had found the words: don't com bak, spray painted across his locker on the last day of school. poor spelling but the sentiment was still there).

An uncomfortable silence soon followed prompting Mabel to stare at her feet for far too long. "You know I'm only saying this because I love you, right dipping sauce? I mean you're a cool guy, I think you're cool so if you made an effort with-"

"Mabel you know no amount of effort is going to erase "Little Dipper" from people's minds."

More silence. Dipper rubbed the back of his arm. He didn't mean to be rude or abrupt with his sister especially considering how close they had become last summer, it just came out that way.

"Sorry for yelling but I don't want to be friends with those kids, I'm happy right here. This place feels more like our home ya' know what I mean Mabel?"

"WADDLES!"

"what?"

"Waddles, remember Dip? Won him at that carnival; Gruncle Stan said he'd been sick lately. I forgot I have to go see him."

Tension broken Dipper couldn't help but break into a smile "mmm, bacon"

Mabel was legitimately shocked for a moment "That's not funny Dip! What if Waddles heard you talking like that? He'd be sooo offended."

Anger completely deflated by his sister's absentmindedness Dipper got down on his knees and did his best to put the globe theater to shame "Might sir Waddles forgive my abhorrent transgressions m'lady?"

Not knowing half of what her brother said but noting that he looked sorry Mabel responded in kind with her best royal pig ambassador accent "I shall away to his highness and see if he might pardon your gooberness. Maybe a cob of corn might help."

With that Mabel ran for the door to go check on her ailing pet.

"Mabel?"

She stopped her sprint just at the door frame not sure if she heard her name or not. "Yeah, what's up Dipper?"

He wanted to say that he was sorry for snapping at her, that he'd known she only had his interests at heart when she said those things and that she was the best sister he could've asked for. Instead it all fell into silence and then "Good night Mabel. See you tomorrow."

"Love you to Dipper." and then she was gone out of the attic and down the stairs leaving Dipper to crawl into bed, alone in their room.


	3. A Dream in Ruins

A breeze rustled through the trees bringing with it a bitter chill on the otherwise warm summer day. Stan smoothed back his greying hair as he sat outside on the steps of the Mystery Shack porch with a full cup of coffee. The air crisp in his lungs as he watched the morning sun rise above the mountain range painting the sky with reds and purples as the first light broke. Inhaling deeply he took in the beauty of it all.

*sigh* "another perfect day for fleecing rubes."

**000**

Contrary to Stan's beliefs it was an incredibly slow day. Two hours in and Mr. Mystery had only conducted one tour consisting of a family, a few kids, and a teen couple that seemed more fixated on their make-out session than anything Stan showed them. Stupid economic unrest.

Secretly Dipper was glad for the slow tourist traffic. His great uncle was a firm believer in the formative powers of hard work or at least free labor from family members. As such he was stuck in another summer of working for Stan or rather being privileged in "acting" as an attraction. The word acting was meant to inspire some level of grandeur in the demining role Dipper was given to play. It seemed Stan had had not only saved his wolf boy costume from last year but taken to "improving it" with gnarled, yellow glue on nails and colored contacts that were too big causing them to pop out at frustrating intervals. In short, he looked and felt ridiculous.

"Can't believe Mabel got out of this with that "creative talent" line."

Taking a sideways glance at the rag tag tour group coming to Stan's favorite part of the Mystery Shack: the gift shop, Dipper huffed.

"Well I doubt Stan is gonna miss me if I duck out of here for a bit."

With the sparse group of tourists departing and the wolf boy pants getting itchier by the second it seemed now was a good time for his state mandated break from work that Stan graciously "allowed" his employees to have (even Stan had to follow the rules sometimes). Grabbing the last pitt cola from the back of the fridge Dipper sat down on the living room sofa.

*argh* "Stupid costume, why the heck would Stan even keep this thing around. He knows I hate it and all the customers keep complaining about my pasty skin. It'd be better if I could work outside like Soos, then maybe I could get a tan and some muscle."

Wiping sweat from his brow as the summer heat began to overpower him Dipper noticed for the first time that he had been talking to himself again, a bad habit he had picked up recently and was trying to curb.

"Whatever, it's too hot to complain anyways."

Picking at one of the glue on nails and silently hoping that it wasn't too permanent his eyes became lidded. The heat hanging in the air made the old couch seem so much more inviting than it had initially been as his body began to conform to the soft fabric and bent springs. Slowly beginning to nod off Dipper stretched himself out along the couch and drifted into sleep.

**000**

He was nowhere and everywhere. A disembodied consciousness that could move freely throughout the world. He could go where ever he wished, no longer tethered by gravity. A little terrified as to what may have brought him to this state in the first place Dipper began to explore his surroundings.

"Where the heck am I and how did I get here?"

Drifting upwards all he could see were trees that stretched on forever, an ocean of oaks and pines, the sky far above him grey and ominous. Floating rather than walking he glided through the forest for what seemed like days. The ability of flight a strange but oddly pleasant sensation like fulfilling a dream you never knew you had in the first place.

He floated until he came upon a the shattered remains of a house in a clearing. Windows had been broken and chunks of charred wood littered an overrun lawn filled with craters still smoking from impact. It wasn't until he came across the downed totem pole that he realized he was looking at the Mystery Shack or at least what remained of it.

"Oh no…MABLE, GRUNCLE STAN…SOOS? Can anyone here me? Is anyone around?" His only response was his echo reverberating off of some unseen force.

"Hehehaha"

What was that? Faint laughter coming from inside the wreckage? Dipper flew through the splinters that used to be the front door, following the strange laughter. Oddly enough he couldn't shake the feeling that he had heard that laugh somewhere before, he just couldn't put a figure on where.

The inside of the Mystery shack had fared little better than the outside as very few things remained unharmed. Maybe there had been a fire or a freak meteor shower had crashed through; either way the situation left little hope for survivors. Floating into the gift shop the insane chortle grew louder but was still muffled by something. It seemed to be coming from behind the vending machine.

The instant Dipper approached, the dust encrusted machine disintegrated leaving a pile of sand at his non-existent feet, behind lay a staircase leading to god only knew where.

The cackling was coming from somewhere down below now at full volume sending a chill down his spine.

"This is too weird even by Gravity Falls' standards." he said to no one in particular as he descended the stairs

The deeper he went down the less he could see until his vision was completely enveloped by the Darkness surrounding him. It even swallowed up the way back moving like ink spilt over paper until he could see no escape.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me!?" Again no response save for his echo.

The feelings of apprehension that had been building since he first laid eyes on the ruined building where now coursing through his entire being leaving him panic stricken. The shack was destroyed, he didn't know where anyone was, and now he was lost a dark quagmire that spanned eternity.

Everything seemed hopeless until his dark world was illuminated by a spec of light. It came from nowhere but was now growing in size, larger and larger until Dipper was bathed in light.

"Oh god no, NO!" he shouted as he covered his head in his hands.

Suddenly he was back in the Mystery Shack or what looked like it could have been an unseen part of the Mystery Shack if Stan had decided on an extraterrestrials' day extravaganza. The Room was decked out in generators, computer screens, and other sci-fi junk only seen in the labs of futuristic mad doctors. It was all hooked up to a large machine in the other room that looked like a rip off of the Stargate series.

"Whoa, what is this? All of these generators powering that one thing. No wonder Stan's electric bill is always so high."

Scanning the room an object glinted at Dipper from his peripheral. Floating closer to it his head began to hurt, a dull ache that felt far away but was slowly growing. Picking up the object in question he found it to be a monocle, the sort the demonstrable villain would wear in old cartoons along with a cape and top hat.

"The heck is this doing here? Looks like something Bill had on." Thoughts of the dream demon and the terrible battle between him and the Pines twins caused him to shutter.

The thumping ache plaguing him grew steadily as he studied his find.

The monocle in question seemed ordinary enough or about as ordinary as a monocle could seem. Much like everything else in the house it to was damaged. A small crack ran through the lens with something thin and golden trapped in between, a hair maybe.

Using his nonexistent hands Dipper plucked the small stand of blond hair from the cracked monocle. As he did so the pounding headache quickly went from nuisance to crippling.

"Wake up kiddo, you have to wake up." A faint angelic voice could be heard pulling his disembodied mind back to reality but not yet, he couldn't go just yet. There was a mystery to be solved here, he needed to figure out what this all meant, who did the strand of hair belong to and what was its connection to the monocle? The pain in his head was now blinding, LITERALY, he couldn't see anymore as the feminine voice no longer pulled but jerked his mind back to reality.

"Ow, ah Jesus what is that? Owowow, I'm up, I'm up."

Opening his eyes Dipper found himself on the not-as-destroyed Mystery Shack couch. Wendy was crouched over him.

"Hey wake up doofus! It's quitn' time and YOU'VE been asleep all day." The nauseating pain in his head had been her insistent poking this whole time.

Noticing how close his face was to hers Dipper was slowly becoming more alert "Wha? Wait was all of that a dream? But it felt so real. So…so familiar."

"Don't know what sort of pervy dreams you're having kido but I can see why you ducked out on your shift, that costume is NOT your best look" Wendy said as she stood up offering Dipper a helping hand off of the couch.

Now more embarrassed than anything at the sudden remembrance of what he was wearing Dipper could only manage a pathetic "Heh, yeah it's um…it's…it is kind of stupid. Ya' know?" A year away from Gravity Falls had done nothing to improve his conversational skills with girls.

"Heh, yeah I know what mean man, still, I could see some girls going for that whole sexy, feral wolf beast look (if you could hear Dipper's internal shout of joy, you'd be deaf). Listen I've got to head out now what with my shift being over and all, but…um…you're technically a teen now right?"

Too nervous to reply, Dipper could only nod (he silently hoped this made him seem cool).

"Alright well, Tambry is hosting a little party at her place on Friday since her parents are in Canada or wherever for the week. ssssooooo…I was wondering if you wanted to come by and like hang out? It's going to be wild, her parties always are."

Again there was only silent nodding on Dipper's part.

"Cool, well, catch you later then wolf boy. Oops, TEEN wolf boy. My bad."

And just like that she was out the door and gone, her crimson locks flying behind her like fire. Now fully alert and heart pounding, Dipper sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes

"Oh, man, what a weird dream."

**000**

Across town a taxi pulled up to an abandoned warehouse in what could only be described as the "ghetto" of Gravity Falls. Gideon Gleeful stepped out of the car and slammed the door, too entranced by the possibilities of what could lay beyond these doors to hear the cab driver curse him out for lack of tip. It didn't matter, he'd get what was coming to him sooner or later, they all would. Delicate hands grasping the rusted handle of the Warehouse door Gideon put all of his weight into sliding back the door.

"Huh, this isn't what I expected."


	4. Revelations

Gideon stepped through the doorway and found the building a dimly lit, disgusting cesspool of rust and disintegrating junk.

It wasn't entirely unpleasant, this was his family's old factory after all and seeing it again brought back waves of nostalgia. The fame, the hundreds of paraphernalia ready to be shipped across the country, the place where he nearly cut out the tongue of Dipper Pines. Ah memories, sweet, sweet memories. But memories were just memories and they did little service to the scene before him.

The cobwebs above his head wove a tapestry of silk and dead bugs and all that was once familiar now seemed strange and out of place.

More disturbing than anything else were the dolls he once treasured as stuffed profit margins. Rows and rows of Gideon dolls stared back at him, each one a reflection of his own face. Where he had only seen profit and dollar signs, he now saw cold black button eyes staring back at him eerily reminiscent of the thousands of horror flicks he'd seen. Frankly, it was a little unnerving.

"Father must have closed up shop soon after my imprisonment" Said Gideon to no one in particular.

"He did." A cold chill ran through Gideon's spine. No one expects an answer when talking to themselves.

A figure materialized out of the shadows with a certain poised gait that could only come from years spent in wealth. Her walk, that flowing golden hair done up so perfectly, and the perfume, like a summer breeze. It was definitely her, that strange girl who just yesterday used her "connections" to bail him out of that infernal prison. Who was she and why did she seem so familiar?

"Heh almost didn't think you'd show. Glad ta' see you could make it." (Secretly, he hoped this had come off as cool and collected unlike the desperate butterflies that fluttered in his stomach).

"Well duh you were going to find me here I was the one who told you to come wasn't I?" Her tone was biting but in a good way, like a cold brisk wind snapping at his cheeks.

Gideon's hand rubbed the back of his neck "Yeah I suppose yer right. So what are we doing here with these antiques anyways?" He said giving a fallen doll a swift kick (they still creeped him out a little, just a little).

"Well Gideon you've been away from this town for a year. Cooped up in that prison while everyone went about their daily lives choosing to forget rather than remember all the good you did for the town by putting Gravity Falls on the map with your "act" (was it just him or did he detect a hint of admiration in her voice?) They really put you out in the cold didn't they? Still, you remember we spoke of the journals the other day, right?"

A strange mix of emotions she couldn't quiet read flashed across his face. "Oh, yes I remember them. Nearly had them all too, but then that Dipper Pines tricked me. He kept them all for himself I assume, probably doesn't even know how to use them properly, what secrets they really hold. I was so close, but then everything fell apart and, well, you know the rest ( his checks turn a slight red at the thought of his failed attempt to possess ultimate power).

" Hm, yes well the operative word there being almost kido." (So cold but still so enchanting, who was she?) "Anyways, why we are here. That is the question you want answered isn't? As it turns out this factory is…useless, what really matters is what's behind the factory. Look out that window and tell me what you see." She gestured to the window in the back of the factory the one that still remained broken from that night so long ago. _Heh, I fell out of that window _Gideon thought to himself.

Robots are a problem. You build them, they work once and then you spend the rest of your time on maintenance and replacement parts. It's even worse when they fall hundreds of feet off of some railroad tracks and explode upon impact. The Gideon-bot looked remarkably well for going through said ordeal, almost as if someone had spent a year reconstituting it. It was still missing an arm, rust covered most exposed metal, and the face covering was torn and unsightly. Despite its semi-functional appearance one cracked eye still winked up at Gideon from the forest floor almost as if to say: "Still here partner".

A plan of revenge and bloodshed began brewing in the diminutive monster's mind.

"And that's not all."

The mysterious girl held out her hand unfurling her fingers to reveal a turquoise stone fashioned into a necklace of sorts.

"C-could it be? M-my lucky bolo tie!" (Gideon would never admit it but he had cried himself to sleep over the loss of his last "lucky" bolo tie and the telekinetic powers it granted him).

The polite Southern gentleman in him told Gideon he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth but deep down that wasn't who he was. This girl, this beautiful creature who enflamed his heart had broken him out of prison and all but given him the tools for his revenge yet one question still remained: why? Who was she and why didn't she just grab the journals when she had all of these resources to herself? Something was very wrong here and he wanted answers.

"You know my sweet little angle there is one thing I want to ask before we continue."

*sigh* "What is it then?"

Gideon steadied himself. "Why?" (a lone but powerful word)

"Why, What?"

"Why are you helping me? Why show me any of this? Why give this to me? Why me and not you? WHY!?" The questions just came on rapid fire and would have continued if not for the slender finger s pressed against his lips to let him know it was time to stop talking.

"Let's just say I've already tried once before and it didn't work out so well and now I need you. The journals are someplace where I can't reach them anymore and you are the only other person in Gravity Falls who knows about them. Let's just leave it at that, okay."

Gideon just nodded his head in the affirmative. Something told that to do anything else would end in a black eye.

Noiselessly she turned and walked away, her phantom finger still pressed against his lips as butterflies now swarmed in his stomach. He couldn't take it anymore, Mable pines was lost to him now and forever, what he ever saw in her he never knew. This girl, this blond vixen, was all he wanted, all he could think about. Compared to her, the revenge, the journals, the power, it all took a back seat, mind you, it wasn't far behind but he couldn't help it, he HAD to have her.

"Wait! I-I want to a…" Gideon began timidly

*sigh* "What now kid, you got your stuff, do you need me to tell you what to do with it?" Her annoyance was palpable but underneath there was something to her words that wrapped around Gideon's heart and pulled.

"N-no I know what to do. I ah, I wanted to know if you were doing anything tomorrow night. I mean I've been in prison for a year and it's not like they serve gourmet food at a state penitentiary so I was thinking it would be nice to have a hot meal and not eat it alone, know what I mean?"

More than taken a little off guard a smile slowly spread across the girl's face.

"Are you actually asking ME out on a date?" Already Gideon was preparing himself for the worst.

"Alright, sounds good but if we're going to do this you're going to have to start calling me by my name."

"And what name might that be sugar plum?"

"Pacifica."

* * *

To the one person who might care: Sorry this took so long to get out. I was out of the country and I guess I lost track of time either way hope you are enjoying the fic so far. Please don't forget to comment because that helps me see what I need to improve and happy 4th America!


	5. Fire, Walk with Me

The trees were painted black against the night sky, outlined by dancing hues of yellows and reds. A defining crackle could be heard as the charred corpses of felled trees marked the path the fire had already traveled, burning as Mabel awoke.

"ooouuuch, where am I?" She sat up rubbed her temples in a vain attempt to ease the throbbing headache slowly building.

An ocean of fire swam around her, the heat so intense she could feel beads of sweat pouring over her like icy tendrils snaking their way over her fevered skin. A branch exploded above her showering Mabel with cinders. She screamed as she covered her head.

*cough* *cough* She began to hyperventilate as thick clouds of smoke chocked her breathing. Panic radiated through her being. How had she gotten here? Where was here anyways? And how was she supposed to get out? The questions burned in her mind racing faster and faster until she felt light headed.

The panic she felt hit full throttle as the fiery skeletons of pine trees hollowed out by the intense flames collapsed around her. The scene was too much as her breath came in rapid shallow gasps fear washed away any thought save for escape. _RUN_ the tiny voice inside her head screamed, _RUN girl and don't look back_. Her mind registered the command but her legs wouldn't obey. She stayed there rooted to the spot to transfixed by the beauty of the fire and the horror of knowing that she might die here, burnt alive till no one could distinguish her corpse from the surrounding wreckage. _Run!_ Another command, another misfire. _RUN dammit!_ Legs solidifying, no longer jelly, she broke out into a mad sprint through the hellscape all around her. Leaping over a fallen tree her feet kicked up ash upon landing, she tripped and fell over herself. *cough* *cough* Coughing from smoke inhalation she struggled to get to her feet as sweat poured down her back and congealed in the most unpleasant places.

"HELP! Is anyone there? Dipper can you hear me? Gruncle Stan, Soos, anyone!?" No one called back.

Fire now burned around her on all sides, there was going to be no more running at least if she wanted to remain unscathed; she was trapped and no one was going to save her. Slumping onto her knees she began to sob uncontrollably.

*sniff* "W-Why, why am I here? What did I do?"

A sudden gust of wind swept past her. It started soft and quiet like a whisper, a reassuring pat on the back to tell her that everything would be alright. Then the wind grew stronger and stronger, her hair flurried out in front of her, whipping her in the face as it went. Mabel braced herself against the deafening roar for fear she might be carried off. Closing her eyes she gritted her teeth as the wind parted the flame like the curtain of a Broadway musical giving Mabel an opening through the wall of fire. _Oh thank god!_ It was all she could think as waves of relief washed over her, now she just had to make it into the clearing and leave this hell. Easy-peasy.

As Mabel made her way past the flames she could see three figures standing in the clearing, their forms were shrouded by smoke and falling ash. The smallest one, roughly her height motioned for her to come forward.

"Rescue workers! Hey, wait up I'm coming don't leave me behind."

It had to a rescue crew there was no other explanation. She had been playing in the wood when someone or something had started a forest fire and the smoke from the flames must have caused her to fall unconscious. That's why she woke up in the middle of a blaze. _Yeah that must be it, it has to be_ She thought to herself. _One of them had better be a real hunky mcdreamy_.

She sprinted after them but the further she ran the further they receded into cover gliding more so than walking. Mabel ran and ran through the clearing, all around her were walls and walls of dead hallowed trees staring down at her accusingly, why had they burned and not her? The more she ran the less corporeal the shadows became until only the smallest figure remained.

Finally the figure slowed down allowing Mable to catch up. Putting her hands on her knees she doubled over gasping for air.

*huff, huff* "Boy howdy you sure are a quick one, thanks for saving me back there." *huff, huff* "You know, if you want I know this great ice cream place in town that has like eleven billion different flavors. So maybe when your buddies get back we can go out, grab a scoop, see a movie, get married or you know whatever." *Haha*

The shadowy figure said nothing standing motionless waiting for Mabel to regain her composure. Catching her breath Mable righted herself and, having time to finally get a proper look at the form before her, she realized it looked familiar. She had seen his outline practically every day of her life; he had grown up with her, helped her pass Mrs. Grundy's math class, and pined over Wendy every second of every day…incessantly…annoyingly so.

"D-Dipper? Is that you? What are you doing here and why can't I see all of you?" The figure didn't respond instead it lifted a thin wispy arm covered in shadows and pointed behind Mabel.

Turning her head Mabel's eyes widened. Sitting just a few feet from her was a lone tree stump she was positive wasn't there when she first caught up to her ghostly brother. The stump itself was rather unimpressive but the small doll that sat atop it certainly caught her attention. Its likeness that of Gideon Gleeful with its puffed silver hair, chubby cheeks and soulless black eyes. It smiled back at her almost expectantly like it was waiting for her to speak to it. However, something was different about this doll, something that set it apart from the countless other Gideon dolls atrophying in the Gleeful family warehouse. A golden triangle was stitched over the doll's heart and, for reasons Mabel couldn't quite put her finger on, this was the most horrifying thing she had experienced since waking up to the blazing inferno.

She turned her head not knowing what the image before her was supposed to evoke, terror, sympathy, but mostly it was confusion. She didn't know why she was here or what was going on but she knew she was ready to leave, to go home and never come back. Something in the back of her mind told her this more than just hallucinations caused by smoke inhalation.

Looking around Mabel realized that she was completely alone in the clearing. No shadowy figures to guide her, no more raging fire burning, nothing. She was lost and alone in a terrifying and unfamiliar place with the pounding in her head growing from a dull ache to a pounding one.

It was faint but she could swear that somewhere farther down the path there was a cat mewling. The pounding got worse and the mewing grew louder , definitely a cat and definitely closer. She began to rock her body back and forth, her balance compromised. She was falling now, her stomach dropped as gravity took her until…..

*crash* "Ow, my head. What the- where am I now?"

Examining her surroundings she found she was back on familiar ground. The stickers above her head permanently plastered to the ceiling covering cracks and holes, the ragged and dusty bed sheets now drenched with sweat, she was back in her attic bedroom at the Mystery Shack.

It had all been a dream, a really horrible sweat inducing nightmare of a dream. The mewling she had heard earlier was coming from her cat'tastrophy themed alarm clock. 7:30 A.M. Time to get up and greet the day.

Rubbing the spot where her head had made contact with the floor Mable got up and noted, with dismay, that her favorite pair of pajamas were torn.

"Guess that's more sewing that needs to be done." She said to no one in particular, head still lost in the fog of the dream. It had been so peculiar and felt so real. Was it even a dream or something else entirely? It was always hard to tell in Gravity Falls. More frightening yet still were the reoccurring elements of her nightmares. They always seemed to revolve around Gideon and yellow triangles. _Meh, it's just moving back here that's gotten me shook up. It'll be fine…after a while._ Her thoughts so naïve.

Still trying to shake the strange images from her head of the creepy Gideon doll Mabel got dressed and ready for the day. The horror of the burning forest in her nightmares completely forgotten as she recalled what today was. She just hoped that her brother wouldn't be too deeply buried in a book to help out.


	6. Requiem for a Pig pt 1

Dipper stretched his arms over his head as he reclined further into the lounge chair atop the Mystery Shack. The rising sun braced him against the cool morning breeze as a contented smile spread across his face.

*sigh* "Finally alone."

All-in-all it was shaping up to be the perfect day. Birds chirped in perfect harmony, people laughed their perfect little laughs, his perfect Wendy had asked him to Tambry's perfect party. In a word? Everything was just so….perfect. It had felt like an eternity since Dipper had been this in tune with the rest of the world.

Letting his mind drift he couldn't believe it had been one year since his time in Gravity Falls, one year since the twins fought to discover the mysteries of this town. But all the gnomes, gobblewonkers, and sledermen in the world weren't nearly as terrifying or sadistic as the kids back home.

No matter how hard he had tried he was still seen as that weird awkward kid that was a social death sentence to talk to. Still, the constant rejection, vicious rumors, and bruises melted away under the intense sun of Gravity Falls, Oregon. This is where he was meant to be, these were the people whom he could call friends and family and mean it, this was his home.

"Ahh, what a perfect day."

**000**

Teeth brushed and full of breakfast Mable set out to look for her brother. She had been planning this day since before their return to the sleepy eyed town.

*squeal* "Oh man he's going to be so happy when he sees what I've got planned for him. I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

One year ago, when Dipper still had the number three journal he talked about a place mentioned in its dusty pages called the crystal caves said to contain a crystal eye thingy or something that could make people immortal. Neither Twin knew whether or not this was actually true but that didn't matter. Mabel just wanted to see her brother happy again; he hadn't cracked a smile once since they had left Gravity Falls last summer.

Over the past year it seemed as if the bullies had become worse somehow. For her part Mabel had tried to be helpful, tried to stand up for him, tried to introduce him to her friends but it only served to push him further and further away.

Truth be told though it wasn't just a bunch of obnoxious kids at school constantly picking on her brother, their home life had been difficult for both twins. Even with her glass half full perspective Mabel had to admit that her parents could yell a little less at each other, focus on their kids a little bit and maybe spend a little more time being, you know, more parenty. But they were trying, Mabel hoped, after all the whole point of Mabel and Dipper's summer in Gravity Falls this was so their parents could have some "alone time," whatever that meant.

So, who knew, maybe all he needed was some adventure, some mystery to breathe some Dipper back into Dipper. And that was what she planned to do now, all she needed was a tasteful sweater and Waddles to help sniff out the way for the twins.

Oddly enough Dipper wasn't in his usual hang out spots, that is to say he wasn't hovering over some five hundred plus snorefest of a book and he wasn't in the doorway between the gift shop and the den pretending to look bored and uninterested while secretly stealing glances at Wendy.

At least Waddles wasn't difficult to find, he'd be nestled next to the couch surrounded by whatever he could grab and drag away from the pantry. Stan would probably be there to, complaining about how this pig was eating him out of house and home. Despite that mabel was pretty sure she'd seen Stan "drop" an apple or two for Waddles to find…when no one was looking of was nice of Stan to agree to look after her pet while she had been away for the year, she would have to get him something for "great uncle's day" this year.

"Blarg! where are you Dip?"

She checked under his bed sixth time just in case he had decided that would be a good place to sleep.

"If we don't hurry it will be too late to do this today."

It was times like this she would have preferred a waddles/Dipper hybrid to regular Dipper/Dipper, at least then he wouldn't be so seq…sequest….whatever, difficult to find. Just when she was about to give up and start on her next big art project she heard a *thump* coming from above her and she knew where to find her vanished brother

"The roof huh? Well that's a new one."

** 000 **

"Dipper! Oh dear brother of mine! Better stop any gross boy things you're doing up there because I'm coming up."

Momentary tranquility broken Dipper opened his eyes. He loved his sister to death but sometimes she just got on his nerves. To wit, her ill-fated attempt to "popularize" him for the school's spring fling dance which ended in an admittedly stylish turquoise tux and no date or like right now for example.

*sigh* "listen Mabes whatever it is I'm just not feeling it right now come back later alright."

_Did he just shoot me down? Nobody shoots me down but me!_ Mabel thought. Still determined she soldiered on.

"aw come on Dip, I have something that will cheer you up more than any disinterested Wendy hug could."

Cracking a smile at her jab, he was just too at peace to be angry with her.

"doubt it but let's make this quick I don't really feel like doing anything too…Gravity Falls-esque."

**000**

"Mabel? Mabel! Where are you taking me?"

Silence, maybe some distant pop song hummed out and an oink or two from their pack leader.

"Can I at least take off the blindfold?" He reached to adjust it and Mabel's hand slapped it away.

"Nope, not until we get there bro-bro so just hang tight."

Dipper could have sworn he heard Waddles oink in agreement with her. Never having believed in an animal/human telepathic connection himself Dipper had to admit his sister's connection with her pet was making a believer out of him.

"Whoops watch out for that rock there."

"What rock?" *oomph* Dipper's foot connected with something solid as he toppled over face first onto the ground.

"Ha-ha, I warned you there dip you shoulda listened to me. I don't know how you could've missed that, it was huge and like covered in…oh right, the blindfold. Eh, sorry about that I promise to take my sisterly duties of guiding my blind brother more seriously. I swear it on my unicorn…no, no wait… my lion sticker collection."

Somehow none of this was making Dipper feel any better. Slapping at another mosquito latched to the back of his neck and pulling away a sweat slicked hand he couldn't help but ponder the million different ways his day could have gone if only his sister had decided to knit a sweater or gossip about boys with her friends.

**000**

Hours later and Dipper couldn't take it anymore; the intense sun hanging above Gravity Falls was slowly baking him alive, cooking his last good nerve. Even Mabel seemed to be feeling the effects of the summer heat, it had been awhile since his twin had talked to him or even hummed out a pop beat.

Coming to a halt, he nearly collapsed from exhaustion; his legs were jelly, the back of his neck and arms stung from sunburns and bug bites, this was it he didn't care what Mabel had wanted him to see he just wanted to go home.

"Alright Mabel I think I've had enough. Thanks for the blind nature walk but we should really be heading back now."

No answer.

"Mabel? Mabel? Come on this isn't funny."

Dead silence.

"I guess since I'm all alone out here I can finally take off this stupid blindfold. I sure hope no one slaps my hand away because that would be so annoying."

Dipper removed the blindfold with an intact wrist. No Mabel in sight. Now he knew things were bad. She wouldn't just abandon him in the woods, would she? No, his sister wasn't like that. She was more likely to have been distracted by a double rainbow or some gnome with a magic crystal.

Dipper couldn't help but feel the panic rise in his chest. He was now lost in the middle of the Gravity Falls wood, alone with no one in town who would notice if he was gone for at least a day or two. _Oh man, oh man, oh man _Dipper kept thinking about the various survival shows he'd watched over the years and how it always went poorly for the lone hiker who got lost.

"O-okay Mabel very funny, you got me."

Still no response.

"Mabel? Maaybeel! Seriously, were did you go?" The last part he said more to himself than aloud.

Looking around he saw that he was close to the Gravity Falls mountain range deep in the forest. He was surrounded by trees and rock, not a living thing in sight but he still couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

"Calm down Dipper, calm down. No one else is out here except you…and a girl with a pig…and wolves, big hungry wolves. Still, no one is actually watching you."

A sudden rustling in the bushes proved him wrong.


	7. Requiem for a Pig Pt 2

The afternoon sun burned over head blinding Dipper. He shielded his eyes with his forearm while squinting into the tree line hoping to catch a glimpse of what had been stalking him.

"Huh, maybe it was nothing, just my mind playing tricks on me."

*snap* something heavy had crushed a stick underfoot. _Definitely still there._ He thought, mind racing.

At the beginning of the school year Dipper had tried out for the school's track team in an ill-fated bid to gain more popularity or at least have someone to talk to other than Mabel. Despite a complete lack of physical coordination and awkward sweaty issues the basic runner's stance had stuck with him. Curling up his body in the optimal position to release a bust of kinetic energy Dipper got ready to run as soon as the creature reared its ugly head. The bushes behind him were rocking back and forth violently whatever it was, it was closing in fast.

"Ready Dipper? 1…2…3..."

*oink* "what the—Waddles?"

A patch of pink emerged from the emerald wave of foliage followed by his sister's grating laugh

"Haha, gotcha bro bro. You totally thought Waddles was like a wolf or something." Turning to her pet in her best cutesy over the top animal lover impression "But you're not a wolf are you? Are you? No, you're just a big pig. Yes you are."

Fists clenched to the point of white knuckles Dipper tried desperately to remember his hippie student councilor's breathing exercises. It wasn't working. He could feel his rage simmering just below the surface, a side effect of being forced into a several mile hike through the woods blindfolded.

"What the heck Mabel!? What was all of this? What, did you just drag me all the way out here for THAT!?"

Mabel barely even registered her brother's anger "Sorry Dipper didn't think you'd take it so personally. Yeash, this guy am I right or what Waddles?" a single *oink* in response. "Haha, but seriously, remember those caves we looked for last year, the ones with the crystal thingys that made you live forever."

A tentative "yeah" in confirmation.

"Well, do you feel up for some spelunking? It's only a little further in."

**000**

The cave walls were slick with what Dipper could only hope was condensation, the air itself was unnaturally humid and every once in a while the ground seemed to shack just lightly enough to be felt but not enough to cause outright panic. Dipper recalled reading about Gravity Falls' infamous giants, like huge golems carved from rock. The situation was unsettlingly familiar.

Taking a few twists and turns past the entrance of the cave the twins found themselves in total darkness. Dipper was positive that there were creatures living here who had never seen the light of day.

"Whew bro, it's getting kind of dark in here ain't it? Good thing I remembered to pack my meowskers glowlight flashlight, eh?"

Dipper didn't respond. He had always felt that the "flashlight" in question was actually kind of macabre. A cat's head that emitted a low grade light source attached to a pink body just large enough to hold two AAA batteries covered in glitter and stickers (Mabel's idea, not part of the actual product). Oh yes, that was what all of the little girls wanted a cat's head impaled on a tiny pink stick.

"Jeez Mabel, you got that thing when you were like…what, eight?"

"Only from the best brother in the world" Mabel chirped back.

"Right, but don't you think you've out grown that thing yet?"

Mabel glanced down at her child's toy from yesteryear and sighed in defeat. Her brother, as always was right. Giving it one last look she chucked the sparkling light as far as her overhand throw would take it.

"Yeah, you're right. Luckily I still have these…much cooler."

She dug in her pack a pulled out a couple of neon green glow sticks. Mabel had claimed they were left over from a rave. Dipper, for the life of him, couldn't remember any rave party or any mention of it.

**000**

Dipper had to admit, an adventure was the last thing on his mind when he woke up this morning, but looking around at the cave's impressive structure, its dripping Stalactites and rows upon rows of stalagmites, he had to admit he was getting more in the mood. As they walked farther and farther from the maw of the cave the ceiling began to come noticeably closer to their heads.

Dark room illuminated by a small light source, ceiling progressively becoming closer with each step, venturing into the unknown; yep, this was indeed a claustrophobic nightmare.

"Hey Mabel."

"Hm?"

"Don't get me wrong, this is really cool and all but this crystal that grants eternal life, isn't it supposed to be guarded by traps and stuff? I mean, should we be walking this fast? Shouldn't we be more careful about this?"

"I dunno bro" Mabel said, shrugging her shoulders as she walked on at a faster pace.

It seemed like the further they walked the more deformed and monstrous the cave became the neat rows of stalagmites became jagged and maze like, nearly impossible to navigate without getting poked or prodded, even the walls began to take strange twists and turns leading this way and that. All of it was cast in the dim eerie glow from Mabel's rave sticks (as she was now calling them).

"Uh, Mabel? Maybe you could tell me again how exactly you know where we are going or, you know, if this is even the right cave I mean Gravity Falls is home to more than one cave you know."

Another shrug and then "Just trust Waddles, he knows where he is going." Dipper could see the headlines now: _remains of_ _twin_ _brother and sister found next to pig skeleton. Police theorize the twins wondered into one of the mountain's many caves and got lost never seeing the light of day again._ He shivered at the very real possibility of this.

Suddenly Waddles stopped and sat back on his haunches unsure of where to go next. Confused it seemed as if whatever trail it had been following suddenly vanished

"Aw, come on Waddles we came all the way out here for this. What's the matter are ya hungry. Hm? Are you a hungry pig?" But for all her nonchalant baby talk to Waddles Dipper could see it was a façade, Mabel was worried that they might actually be lost, even if he couldn't see her face he could hear it in her voice. True to his status as a twin he felt a similar spike of fear rise in his chest. Being lost in a cave, left to starve to death was one thing but being lost in a cave left to starve to death before his big night with Wendy made it all so much worse. At least they still had light.

Suddenly, as if struck by lightning Waddles got back on all fours, ears perked listening for some unseen danger. Without warning he bolted from the twins at a speed Dipper didn't believe possible for a pig.

Mabel went into full on panic mode. "Waddles! Wait, where are you going? Don't leave us here. What about all of the sweaters I've knitted for you? Didn't they mean anything to you?"

Mabel was already running ahead of her brother. If they lost Waddles in this cave there would be no finding him again nor would they be able to find their way out of the dark abyss. The twins chased the pig through twists turns and junctions, Mabel focused solely on reaching her pet while Dipper tried to keep up with her looking for landmarks and familiar signs in a vain attempt to create a mental map. The further they ran into the depths of the cave the stranger it got, no longer were there stalagmite or stalactites but formations growing out of the sides of the walls like some Indiana Jones death trap.

The walls themselves were beginning to take on an otherworldly bluish hue. Suddenly Mabel skidded to a halt bringing Dipper, too transfixed by the strange formations of the cave, face first into the back of his sister's head.

"oomph!" was all either of them could say before they toppled over each other. Dipper was the first to his feet extending a hand to his fallen sister.

"Are you alright Mabel? Why'd you stop?"

Mabel just pointed her thumb behind her back at Waddles now fully stopped, sitting back on his hind legs as if patiently waiting for the twins the hurry up.

"Because he did."

After getting up, brushing herself off and giving her "spelunking sweater" a once over Mabel rushed to Waddles' side. Eyes widening she called out to her brother.

"Hey Dipper you got to come over here and check this out. This is…this is cray cray! This is the most cray thing I've ever seen. It's…it's just so…so…cray."

Dipper did and found that Waddles had stopped just before a ledge leading into a hallowed out room buried deep beneath the Gravity Falls mountain side. The size of the room itself was massive making Dipper feel like he had stepped into a giant's lair. The room itself was a huge sphere with walls smooth and slick like glass giving them the appearance of being wet without actually being so. Crystalline structures jutted out from the walls at all angles each one emitting an eerie blue glow that illuminated the room. However, no matter how obtuse or mangled the formation each structure lining the walls, ceiling, and floor seemed to bend towards the center of the room. In the center of the cavern lay an orb roughly the size of a house made from the same crystalline material that covered the walls. A bluish glow emanated from deep within casting a dull blue light on the rest of the room making it all seem so organic, so alive.

"Maybe we should turn back and, you know try to find out way out of this place, eh Dipper?" Mabel's voice small and filled with trepidation. There was something about this place that scared her opening up a deep seeded, primal fear.

"Are you kidding me? Look at this place! It's incredible. Think about it Mabel what person could have done this and I mean these walls. Stuff like this doesn't just form in the wild. We might literally be standing on proof of intelligent life beyond humans, right here, right now! This is so awesome!"

It was official, the downcast Dipper that had arrived in Gravity Falls just days before was dead, say hello to the reinvigorated adventure seeking Dipper.

"Come on Mabel I want to check this thing out. I mean what if it really works? What if it can grant you eternal life?"

Suddenly eternal life didn't sound so great to Mabel. "Dipper I'm getting a really bad feeling about this place, something isn't right here. We shou-"

"Hm, I wonder if there is a catch to it you know like in the last crusade where you're confined to a certain area or maybe it's like eternal life but not eternal youth like Tithonus." Dipper was too lost in thought to be bothered.

"Listen Dipper-"

"You're right Mabel, we should approach this cautiously; maybe we could set something up to see if it's safe? Mabel do you have a-"

"Dipper! You're not listening to me. Waddles and I brought you out here because we thought it might bring you out of your weird un-Dipperly funk, but something is wrong here it feels…it feels like…I don't know it feels like we are being watched, like we aren't supposed to be here. I-I want leave. NOW."

Dipper was a little stunned; Mabel the voice of reason? How crazy had the world gone? Though he did have to admit there was something strangely ominous, almost foreboding about this room. Like a tiny itch in the back of his brain telling him to stay away. Still, no one who did anything worthwhile backed down from a challenge and so onward he would press.

"Come on Mabel, you're the one who dragged me all the way out here. We may as well go all the way, right?"

Seeing that she wasn't budging he tried again "Tell you what, I promise to spend every last cent of my college fund on like a pony or something if we can stay"

"Will it be a big pony?"

"Big as a horse."

"Can it be black with white spots?"

"Fairly certain that's a cow but I'll see what they can do."

"Can I name it twilight sparkle?"

"God no."

Meh, two out of three wasn't bad she'd just have to be sure to keep Dipper safe. Without another word Dipper dropped off the ledge and slid down the curve of the concaved walls till he hit too much friction and tumbled over himself landing on the floor below face first. Mabel, on the other hand, was far more graceful and slid down the slope as if she were wearing skates, Waddles remained above too afraid to go any further, a smart animal. As the twins moved closer to the orb, the light show of rave sticks Mabel had been wearing began to flicker and die.

"Oh no no no. not now, couldn't you wait until we found our way outside?" panic evident in her voice. She would never admit it to anyone but Mabel had become lost in a maze of unpacked boxes during an unexpected power outage at a friend's house. She nearly had a panic attack trying to find her way out and when no one came for her she had to spend the night curled up in a ball on the floor effectively missing the whole sleepover. The experience had left her traumatized, a little afraid of the dark. _Only a little_ she told herself.

"Breathing exercises Mabel, just remember the breathing exercises that Dipper taught you." she muttered under her breath.

The light, however, wasn't dying, it was changing shape and intensity becoming a translucent tube of pure energy that floated, sank, twisted and turned in the air swirling around Dipper and Mabel before heading towards the center of the orb where it was absorbed into the blue light creating a brilliant swirl of greenish blue hues to play out all across the room. Suddenly there was a bright light and before either twin could react, the core of the orb returned to its usual blue glow all novelty flashlights and glow stick now drained of energy, dead.

After seeing the light show Dipper was 100% convinced that touching the crystal orb was a bad idea. And yet something like a small voice in the back of his mind, not entirely his own, urged him forward. It whispered to him telling him it would be okay. He could touch it. Afterall, what would a tiny, little touch hurt? Nothing, that's what. Numbly his legs moved coerced by the unseen force towards the blue glow; it was no longer a matter of whether or not he wanted to, he HAD to do it.

"Dipper! What are you doing? Stay away from that thing." Mabel called, her voice falling on deaf ears.

It was strange but Dipper could swear he saw dancing figures in the middle of the orb like drawings or cave paintings come to life they danced their insanity away in rhythmic motions. The closer he got the more welcoming the figures became, they danced for him, they had been waiting so long for him, just him and no one else.

Mabel could sense something was wrong with her brother, he got weird and determined when he was around something mystical but this was a whole different kind of strange she didn't like. "Dipper! Hold on, don't go into the light!" she screamed as she ran to her brother's side.

Looping her arms around his waist she pulled as hard as she could, trying to deter him, to break the spell the orb had over him but all to no avail. With a quick shove Dipper easily pried his sister off of him and sent her to the ground. _Since when did he get so strong I've always been the alpha twin_ she thought?

Dipper was now at arm's length from the orb, he reached out to touch it and found, to his surprise, the surface of the orb was warm. It wasn't the cold glass feel he had expected at all, on the contrary, it was not only warm but soft, malleable. Electric blue tendrils lazily snaked their way out from the center of the orb and coiled around Dipper's body encasing him in blue sparks before sinking beneath his skin. He could feel the warmth of the crystal enter under his skin and spread throughout him leaving a peaceful, tingling sensation as if his limbs had fallen asleep.

Mosquito bites, paper cuts, and aching joints all began to heal; Dipper couldn't remember the last time he felt this good it was like a high he could never come down from. Despite that, his good vibes left him as the last spark crackled and fizzled out just behind his right eye leaving him disappointed yet somehow more at peace with the world, a come what may que sera sera kind of mood.

"Dipper! Dipper! Are you alright? What was that? You aren't hurt are you?"

Mabel dashed to her brother's side as he swayed from one foot to the other still lost in the haze of his experience. Suddenly he righted himself, standing straight as a board "Mabel! It was incredible, like being wrapped in a warm blanket that just melts your problems away. You've got to try this. Here, all you do is just put your hand right here and-"

"Dipper just stop! You were in some kind of trance and there was this like blue lightning and…and…and I thought I going to lose you." The tears were streaming down her face before she could finish.

Dipper looked up at his sister with shame in his eyes "Mabel? Mabel look I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you like that but it was just so…so compelling, I had to test it out, just once. But look I'm fine now see?" He showed her his arm previously covered in mosquito bites and an unidentified rash now smooth and clean.

"Well alright I guess so long as you're still breathing, but seriously let's get out of here okay." She said as she gave him a quick punch to the shoulder.

"Yeah we should probably get going seeing as how we still need to find our way out of this place. Just hold on for one second." Dipper said as he pulled out his pocket knife causing Mabel to back away from him, edging her back to the opening. "Whoa, whoa Mabel calm down. I just want a piece of this thing. I mean imagine what we could do with it, what science could do with something like this."

"Dipper I don't think we shoul-"

But before she could get out another word Dipper already plunged his knife into the orb chipping off a small piece just big enough to fit in the palm of his hand. Blue sparks clung to it for dear life before fading into the center of the chipped piece giving it its own separate glow.

"See? Nothing to it and now we have something to light our way." Before Dipper could finish speaking, however, Mabel felt a low rumbling of the ground beneath her feet steadily growing with each passing second.

The distant rumble quickly became more pronounced, the violent shaking of the earth sending the twins stumbling backwards. The glass like substance that coated the walls and ceiling began to crack and shatter raining deadly shards on the ground below.

"Dipper what did you do? This whole place is coming down!"

Dipper tried to stand but was forced back onto his knees by the tremors and with the slick floor running wouldn't be an option until they could find more friction. Navigating the crumbling room the twins crawled over shattered pieces of the ceiling that ripped clothes and shredded hands and knees. Finally, they got to the entrance but that was just the beginning of their ordeal as before them lay a steep climb up a slick concave wall that even competitors from American Ninja would find difficult to climb.

Dipper and Mabel scrambled up the slope trying to reach the ledge but the walls offered little to grab onto. With bits of the wall peeling away shaking grew more violent until neither twin could see straight. Dipper was the first to lose his grip but managed to stay aloft long enough to regain it. Mabel on the other hand wasn't so lucky and was sent tumbling back to the floor below. Cursing himself for not taking phys. Ed. more seriously Dipper made a leap of faith from where he was on the incline and managed to grab hold of the ledge. Pulling himself up Dipper extended a hand to his sister who, after a running start, was able to jump and grab it.

With Waddles leading the way the twins sprinted through the caverns ducking to avoid being impaled on low hanging stalactites. Dipper felt his sister give him a quick shove from behind propelling him forward, causing him to trip over his own feet. He spun around in time to see a portion of the ceiling flatten the space where he had just been.

"T-thanks for the save Mabel."

"Don't thank just run dorkus!" Mabel screamed as she pulled her brother up by the collar of his vest.

Continuing their mad dash for the exit the twins were completely lost at this point, Waddles had fallen behind and was struggling to keep up. All that mattered now was getting to a place where they wouldn't be horribly killed by falling debris. Following twists and turns Mabel skidded to a halt narrowly missing a falling stalactite that would have opened up her skull. She didn't even realize she had stopped until Dipper yanked on her sweater pulling her forward.

"Come on Mabel! We need to keep moving!"

Suddenly they were back, back in familiar territory and close to the exit. Mabel took note that her meowskers glowlight flashlight was still hanging on for dear life as she rushed past it. Before he even knew what was happening Dipper ran past the mouth of the cave and into the warm air of the forest floor. Without even second breath to savior the sweet taste of safety Dipper spun around to check on Mabel who had been behind him the whole way.

"Mabel! Come on! I know you can do it I know you-"

and then he saw it. He saw it as it was happening, he saw it as it was going to happen. Mabel was sprinting as fast as her legs would allow and the section of ceiling above her was already beginning to fall. She was too far away for him to grab her. She was running too fast to stop in time. She: Mabel pines, was going to run into the collapsing ceiling. She was going to run right into her death. Life flashing before her eyes, she barely registered Waddles slamming into her back.

*CRASH*

"MABEL!? MABEL!"

Dipper stood there rooted to the spot. He couldn't believe it, couldn't believe what he had just seen. Senses slowly returning, he ran forward and embraced his sister.

*Sob* "Mabel. Mabel Mabel Mabel. I-I thought I had lost you. If-if Waddles hadn't pushed you out of the way I-I don't know what I would have done."

Shrugging herself free of her brother's death grip Mabel spun around to face the debris from the mountainside.

"W-what do you mean: if Waddles hadn't pushed me out of the way. Dipper I-" The words froze in her throat as her eyes met the mangled corpse sticking out of the rock pile.

Several tons of rock in free fall can do a lot of things to a body. They can crush bone into dust, pulp muscle, and tear through flesh like it was paper. In waddles' case there wasn't much left except blood splatters and shredded meat.

The twins didn't move nor speak for a long time and it wasn't until the sun began to set over Gravity Falls that they began to make their way back home in silence.


	8. The Date

"Yes Chet, as you can see here there was in fact a small earthquake in the Gravity Falls area yesterday. Thankfully it seems to have only been localized to the abandon mines, miles from the town itself."

"Any chance of casualties or injuries as a result of the tremors Derek?"

"While the local police are going door to door to ensure the safety of the residents in Gravity Falls I would have to say that no, no it isn't likely that anyone was injured or killed in the quake."

"Well thank you very much Derek for that update and we will be keeping an eye on the situation as more details come in here at Channel 6 News. And now in the sports world we ask this question: will Edward Pattinson ever play for the Trail Blazers again after his kool-aid induced coma?"

A warm breeze wafted through the restaurant doors bringing with it an airy lightness to the people within. Glasses clinked, people laughed, and most seemed too engrossed in conversation to notice their food coming a little late or that the kitchen staff had the radio playing too loud as it belted out the highlights of the evening news across the venue. The atmosphere was heightened by the setting sun which cast the entire scene in a golden glow. You couldn't buy this kind of romantic setting.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves save for one, a lone teen with puffed silver hair. He sat head in hand drumming his fingers against the worn oak table, the black t-shirt, a departure from his usual turquois suit, was beginning to chaff his neck.

An hour ago, Gideon had sat at his table with high expectations excited that he would share the evening with Pacifica laughing over the news of his latest triumph. But with each passing minute his hope fell a little bit more. Even his waiter had abandoned him for more lucrative tables with guests willing to pay for meals and tips.

*sigh*" Welp I guess she's not coming. Figures."

Standing up to leave Gideon was taken by surprise as a delicate hand pushed him back into seat. The blonde debutant sat across from him before he could even register what was happening.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Daddy found mommy in bed with another one of the help and they just HAD to have me around for their little screaming match. I swear I can't wait to be rid of them."

Gideon grimaced at thoughts of his own father milking his TV personality for all it was worth and then some "Yes, parents can be quite the burden."

Miraculously their waiter appeared after being nonexistent for the past 30 minutes. "Ah sir your date she finally arrives. Shall I bring you some menus or perhaps some more water?" He said in a faux French accent.

Gideon could only grumble in annoyance. A year ago and this peasant would be groveling for an autograph, he would have had to fight for the honor of serving Gideon in the first place and say thank you should Gideon choose to spit in his general direction, but things had changed it seemed.

"Just bring us our drinks and give us something to order off of."

**000**

Despite the wait, the dinner was great and the conversation flowed seamlessly. Never before had he been able to open to anyone and share both sides of himself, the charming southern gentleman and the freak of nature megalomaniac. Pacifica didn't just sit there and accept him, she laughed at the parts of his stories that would have sent most people cringing in fear. With each passing minute he couldn't help but feel like he was falling more and more in love with this enchanting creature, this vision of perfection.

*Ahaha* So then I told the guy: This flea bitten hell hole is now the property of the Northwest estate and you should be glad that I'm taking it off your hands. Seriously, I'm embarrassed for you and your grandfather."

Gideon took another sip of his cherry coke. "And then what happened?"

"we turned that pile of dirt into a high class beauty salon. Girls gotta have some place to get her nails done. Anyways, I think the guy went crazy, something about a suicide or a homicide. I don't know I never really followed up with that."

*burp* "Pardon me." Gideon dabbed the corner of his mouth with his napkin. "Well darlin' the important thing is that you got what you wanted."

"Yes indeed, I did get what I want…speaking of which I read about a little cave-in near the mountain range yesterday" Pacifica's voice snapping from sweet and energetic to frigid so quickly it took Gideon a few seconds to recover.

"Oh so you heard about that did you?" a self-satisfied smirk crossed his lips.

"Yes, I did. The whole town has heard about what happened yesterday. Honestly, it's all anyone can talk about in this god forsaken town." Her voice growing louder and angrier with each word. "Gideon, those caves may have been abandoned but the structure was solid especially in the central chamber. Those crystals kept the cave from deteriorating for centuries. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you?"

"b-but sugar pie, I thought you'd be happy about this. I mean, true, it wasn't a rousing success and the Pines twins are still walking around but at least I got one of them…right?"

"The pig Gideon. You killed a pig with a rock. Seriously, any liquored up hillbilly in this town could have done that."

Her demeanor was growing colder by the minute; Gideon could practically feel the icy chill coming off of her as she spoke. Never had he been so infatuated with something he feared so much, but then again maybe that was part of the thrill.

"Look Gideon, let me make this clear. I don't care about the Pines twins or the Pines family for that matter, well maybe you could do something to Stan but whatever, we'll work on that. Right now I just want the journals. They need to be…*sigh*… I…I need them. Now do you think you can do that for me or not?"

The couple two tables down clinked glasses. The sound ringing out in the icy silence.

"Y-Yeah, sure I can do that for you."

"Well you'd better hope so or you can expect to be back behind bars for the rest of your life! Now, what do you think of the tiramisu for dessert? Sounds decent enough."

The tonal shift happened so quickly Gideon was thrown for a loop. Was this girl crazy? Like actually crazy? Most normal people didn't go from frost bitten rage to sweet and pleasant at the drop of a hat. Then again, nobody would accuse Gideon of being sane either. Just another commonality the pair shared.

**000**

By the time they left the restaurant the sun was dipping beneath the clouds setting the evening sky ablaze with reds and purples as the stars were just barely visible. Pacifica's chauffeur was waiting for the couple when they left the restaurant hand in hand.

*yawn* "Ah, that was a good dinner but I'm kind of tired now. Alejandro will drive you back to your motel and then I think I'm going to bed. But we should definitely pick this back up tomorrow Gideon."

Gideon beamed her his best made-for-TV smile. "Agreed."

The drive was short and a little too quiet neither wanting to say much to other rather they preferred to sit and enjoy the moment. Stopping at his motel Gideon got out of the car and waived back.

"Until next we meet mon petit chou fleur."

"Oh, I'll be waiting for you my sweet." Pacifica shot back as she drove away leaving Gideon on the curb of the Gravity Falls One Night Motel. Riding back to her mansion in the hills the loving atmosphere vanished the instant they were out of Gideon's sight.

"Mon petit chou fleur? God that kid gives me the creeps." Pacifica shuttered at the thought of another date with that fat silver haired mutant.

*sigh* "Well at least I'm finally home no thanks to you Alejandro. My brain damaged grandmother could have gotten us here faster." She said, intentionally kicking the back of her driver's seat as she got out of the car and began walking towards the mansion gates. "Oh, and Alejandro? You can take the rest of the night off. I have a feeling my parent won't be going anywhere tonight."

"Oui Oui, Mademoiselle!" Alejandro shouted.

Pacifica stopped half way up the walk. Did her driver just mock her? She was about to turn and tell him how fired he was but found that he had already driven off into the sunset.

"Ungrateful little wretch." she muttered under her breath.

Stepping through the doorway she kicked off the high heels she had been wearing and made her way to the family's waiting room. Pacifica's parents sat in separate hand crafted Solomon Italian leather chairs staring blankly at an enormous unlit fireplace. Her mother had insisted on finer seating arrangements but her father waived it off stating that the Northwest family was peer to none and all guests should be treated like the peasants they so obviously were. _Who's the peasant now Preston?_ Pacifica thought darkly as she circled around so she could better face them.

Mustering up her best impression of a girl wooed by a suave young knight Pacifica threw herself between her parents. "Oh, mommy dearest and sir father you could not buy a more perfect evening. Everything was as grand as I could have ever hoped for, maybe even more so!"

Her parent didn't respond. instead they maintained their blank faces, staring motionless off into the distance as they had done for weeks. Showing a surprising amount of strength Pacifica dragged the pair and their peasant chairs closer together. The legs of the chairs biting into the wood as they went creating deep scratches in the wood floor of the waiting room.

"Oh, and that Gideon fellow is so noble. Imagine, he tried to kill the Pines twins with a cave-in for me. All for ME! I feel so loved."

Her demeanor growing more and more manic by the second Pacifica jumped onto her father's lap. "Daddy will teach me the secret of winning a man's heart or perhaps you mommy. You could help me too."

Mrs. Northwest didn't acknowledge her daughter's behavior. Instead a trail of drool began to stream out of the corner of her mouth.

"Well you're no fun." Pacifica laughed as she kicked herself off of her father and back onto the ground.

Preston Northwest slumped forward in his chair, glassy eyes focused on some unseen thing far ahead as his arms dangled limply at his side. It was faint but Pacifica could swear she heard a faint moan escape her mother's lips. A stifled cry for help perhaps.

"Now now Mommy dearest we can't have any of that can we?"

Pacifica pressed her index fingers against the temples of her mother's head allowing for a faint glow to spread and fade around her fingers returning her mother to her zombified state.

"Ah, there we go, much better don't you think so?"

Pacifica left her parents where they were and moved to the mirror in the corner of the room. Humming to herself she picked up one of her dad's old top hats, as she had done many times before, and tried it on in the mirror.

"Well, not bad I suppose but I could use a little something to complete this ensemble. Hm, a monocle might do. Yes, yes a monocle would do."

The thing that stared back at Pacifica from behind the mirror was not the reflection of a blonde teenage girl but something else entirely. Looking into the mirror, one could see her skin had turned a bright yellow, a single eye adorning her triangular shape as the beast examined its reflection from inside the teen's body. Bill Cipher took another moment to look himself over in the mirror as he possessed the body of the young debutant.

"Boy oh boy, zombifications, possessions, and now attempted murder. This is turning into one hell of a horror show." *ha ha* "What fun."


	9. That Awkward Morning After

There was electricity in the air, literally. Hidden deep beneath the Mystery Shack gears creaked to a stop only to speed up an instant later as sparks danced in the air. Stan, for his part, sat in the observation room watching the chaos unfold as the machine struggled to accommodate his latest batch of coordinates.

"Come on, come on you can do this baby I just need you to work once just once and I can fix everything."

The archaic device stuttered as the portal fired a stray bolt into a bundle of cables hanging loosely in the corner of the room frying them instantly. The machine gave one last gasp before the power went out and it shut down completely.

*sigh* "God damn it." he said pinching the bridge of his nose as he entered the portal chamber. Another incorrect sequence, another failure.

Stan stared at the blackened, burnt wiring that cracked and fizzled at his feet with blood shot eyes. He couldn't keep pulling these all-nighters. But he was close, he knew it he could feel it in his bones. One of these days he was going to punch in the right sequence and the portal would open up revealing the correct destination. It was only a matter of time. Fate, however, seemed to have other plans.

It had been one year since he had finally gotten his hands on all three journals from his nephew and punched in the correct sequence that activated the portal, but since then it had been a myriad of failures. The hardest part was supplying the machine with power while still keeping things on the down low. It seemed that violating the laws of time and space was an expensive venture, to wit, Stan was going to have to go into town and see if he couldn't find a suitable replacement for the destroyed cables something that would hurt his wallet…A Lot.

"Well, this sucks."

**000**

The digital clock resting atop the TV flashed 10 A.M. in bright red numbers as its alarm went off Telling Dipper it was time to get up. It was Friday morning and the pale grey light trickling in from the living room window was doing little to raise his spirits. Two days since the cave in at the mines and he could still feel the ground shaking beneath him, still hear the walls cracking and heaving, the splintering of bone and the bloodied mess that had been Waddles. It was all his fault, ALL HIS and no one could tell him otherwise. _Why couldn't I have just left when Mabel asked me to? _A question he'd asked himself a million times over.

Getting up from the couch Dipper tried to stretch for a few minutes to get the soreness out of his back, sleeping on the dilapidated couch in the family room for the past two nights had been an unpleasant experience. He could hear things at night, things that came from beneath the floorboards. But, Mabel needed her space right now and he was willing to give it to her.

He still remembered trudging through the forest the night of, both twins battered and bruised with Mabel keeping her distance as she marched behind Dipper. He told himself that he had imagined her crying, that she would remain tough and that everything would be alright in a few days, every sob was the wind rustling through the trees every cry or moan was an animal too far off to care about. _God I'm such a bad liar _Dipper finally relented.

Neither twin had spoken a word to the other since then; Dipper hadn't even seen his sister come down from their room in the attic. This was bad, worse than the time she had gotten glue stuck in her hair and had to cut it short, worse than the time she had her jaw wired shut and had to drink meals through a straw. Dipper didn't know how or even if he could fix this. At least there was Tambry's party to look forward to, but then again maybe not. A self-inflicted, mandatory grounding from all fun and excitement seemed more appropriate given the circumstances.

Walking into the kitchen Dipper grabbed a carton of OJ from the fridge. "Arrgh, where does Stan keep the glasses again?"

"It's behind you, third cupboard on the left." Dipper jumped spilling orange juice on the floor. He hadn't heard Mabel enter the kitchen.

"Um…hey Mabel how are you doing today? Don't suppose you couldn't point me in the direction of the paper towels could you? Ha-ha you know, because…because of the mess?"

Nothing but silence and a wide eyed stare in response.

"Look Mabel I'm glad we can talk now. I just want you to know I am so sorry for what happened in the mines. You told me not to take a piece of that thing and I should have listened to you. What happened with Waddles…what happened with Waddles was all my fault."

More silence, her wide-eyed deer caught in the headlights stare had become a glare that bore into him. Shifting around uncomfortably Dipper decided it was best to press forward with his self-destructive apology.

"Mabel, please. I am so, so sorry I just…I know I can't make it up to you but just say something, anything. Tell me what a goober I am, punch me, yell and scream I don't care. Just say something."

Noiselessly she turned and walked away confirming his worst fears: Mabel blamed him unconditionally for what happened and there was no fixing it.

Two years ago Dipper had been shoved into his locker by Brad Killings and spent the whole day crammed between his ill-fitting jacket and Dr. Klutz's _Math and You: an Unfriendly Relationship_. The next day when Brad tried to take Dipper's lunch for "second helpings" an enraged Mabel knocked him over and forced French fries down his throat while screaming about what a jerk he was. All three of them nearly got expelled. It ended with Bradly being grounded and Mabel having to see the student councilor every Tuesday. Not once did she ever write Brad the mandatory apology the school had ordered her to write. She may not always understand him or share his enthusiasm for the paranormal, but she was his best and only friend. Somehow he screwed that up; somehow he'd manage to dive away the one person he cared about, the one person who cared about him.

"Jesus Dipper you really fucked up this time" he muttered under his breath to an empty kitchen.

Aimlessly stumbling through the museum of oddities he walked past Stan's collection of junk that was the biggest tourist trap in the west: The six-pack-a-lope, the were-man-fish, the donations bucket. *sigh* "How the hell am I going to fix this?" *oomph*

"Whoa there kiddo you gotta watch where you're going. I mean I know your great uncle looks invincible but I'm not, especially at this age."

Dipper was too stunned to respond. He hadn't even seen gruncle Stan standing there when he walked into him. Still it made sense he'd be there, it was his house after all.

"Eh, anyways kido I'm heading into town. Need to pick up some things and I probably won't be back till late.

Dipper could barely process what was going on, still lost in the fog of Mabel's departure. "Hm? Oh yeah that's great gruncle Stan, go knock'em dead or whatever."

"Huh thought you'd be asking more questions than that kid. Anyways see you later, dinner is in the fridge. Oh, and one more thing."

Stan hunched over as low as his rickety back would let him pulling Dipper close for good measure. "Listen kid I don't know what's gotten into Mabel but she seems a little…I don't know, different lately (by that he meant she'd been up in her room for the past 2 days) I don't know if you two are fighting or whatever but maybe go upstairs and talk to her. I mean don't get me wrong I hate having my exhibits covered in glitter and bedazzled but she is starting to bring even me down."

And just like that Dipper found himself alone in the Mystery Shack. Upon reflection he wasn't sure why he did it, what exactly compelled him to go upstairs or why he thought it would be a good idea and yet despite his better judgment screaming at him to let things be for now he found himself at the top of the stairs just before the attic bedroom.

Tentatively he opened the door inching his way into the room little by little as if entering a tiger's cage. Was the bedroom door always this squeaky?

"Uh Mabel? Look about the other day I just wanted to-"

*smash*

Dipper ducked out of the way just in time to avoid the bejeweled picture frame tossed at his head. Before attempting contact again he took note of the picture within the frame, one of the twins and gruncle Stan from last summer's fishing trip. His face had been cut out of the picture with Mabel's decorative framing scissors. _Oh man I didn't just screw this up; I REALLY screwed this one up_ he thought.

Picking up them shattered frame Dipper stared at the picture. "Aw Mabel this was a good one. Look I know you are a little upset but maybe-"

"A little upset Dipper!? A little upset!?"

Her eyes were still swollen from crying and her hair fell away in matted clumps from lack of care, add a beat red scowl and Dipper was terrified his sister might be revealing some hidden demonic side.

"If you had just done what I had asked Dipper, if you just listened to me for once in your life instead of having your head stuck up your own ass then none of this would've happened. I wouldn't've been almost killed for the one millionth time in Gravity Falls and Waddles would still be here!"

Dipper's mouth hung agape too stunned to respond, Mabel never swore, NEVER. She'd sworn she'd never swear and yet Dipper had managed to do the one thing that made her break her promise.

"Look Mabel you know I'm sorry, I really am, I just don't know how many more times I can say it I mean I wasn't even in control of me. It was like I was possessed or something." Dipper was practically on his knees at this point.

"I know Dipper, I know that's what you keep telling me but do you know what your real problem is? You're too smart and so everyone else is just too dumb to have an opinion. No matter what you always have to be right and…and…and we were just supposed to go to the caves, find the crystal thingy and…I don't know leave when I asked you to not because I was afraid something was going to happen but because I asked you to. But I guess I'm just another person without an opinion huh?"

Dipper couldn't speak; his throat had seized up half way through Mabel's speech. He felt so stupid, of course she was mad about Waddles but he had pushed her aside like he pushed everyone else aside when it had mattered most. Dipper had been right all along, he had screwed this up too bad to fix. This was a wound that would take time to heal if at all it ever did.

"I'm…I'm sorry." He finished lamely before backing out of the room. He couldn't even look his sister in the eyes as he left.

Dipper walked downstairs and fell back onto the couch. How long he stayed there staring at his reflection in the TV screen he didn't know. Minutes? Hours? It didn't matter. When he sat back up his stomach growled at him for food and yet, eating was the last thing on his mind.

"arrrrrgggghhhhh, I can't take it anymore! I've got to get out of here!"

The house had become too cramped; everything reminded him of her, of his failure as a brother. Like a bolt from the blue a thought flashed in his mind.

"Tambry's party…Wendy."

Mabel was going to hold her grudge for a long time. What else was there to do but cut loose while she took her time getting over it?

"Nothing, that's what."


	10. Smells like Teen Spirit

Dipper kicked and screamed as the ghostly force dragged him closer the ruined Mystery Shack. His legs scraped along splintered boards and rusty nails that left deep gashes in his skin and cloths.

"No, no not again!"

He could hear laughter in the distance. Someone was laughing at him, laughing at his attempts to run away.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh" *Thump*

Dipper opened his eyes rubbing the spot where his forehead had made contact with the seat in front of him. The lights on the bus flickered as they rode over another bump. _What the hell? Another dream?_ It had been one week since he'd arrived in Gravity Falls and each night he was met with another terrifying vision. Maybe it was his psyche playing tricks on him, his subconscious trying to work out his fears and anxieties but then again maybe not. Each time the nightmares were getting worse and there was something about them he couldn't shake off. Something vivid almost as if they were a warning of things to come, a sort of prophetic dream. _Meh, I'll deal with it later._

The ride to Tambry's house was surprisingly long but Dipper was just glad he could catch a bus at this time of night on a Friday. As they drove into the night his thoughts returned to Mabel and how the twins had left on uncertain terms. _She'll get over it…probably._

"Next stop. Wenton Lane, end of the line people."

Dipper shook himself from his stupor. He'd only meant to close his eyes for a second, had he really been asleep for the whole ride? The doors opened up and Dipper paid his fare as he stepped out into the night.

"Welp, here goes nothing."

**000**

Tambry's house was hidden among dozens of look a likes in the suburban cul-de-sac. Dipper walked past it three times unsure if he was at the right place or not. There weren't any flashing lights, no bass that shook the outside and rattled car windows, no stoners hanging around the house just lots of cars parked up and down the street, by all accounts it looked like your typical McHouse in your typical McSuburb.

"Hm, Wendy's text said 416 Wenton Lane…416…416…oh, there we are."

Stepping onto the porch a din of voices and obnoxious edm music confirmed he was at the right place, not sure of what the proper etiquette was in the situations he rang the doorbell. No answer. Another ring…no answer. It was getting lonely out here on the cool summer's eve.

"All right that's it" Dipper said to himself giving a firm knock.

Nothing happened at first but inside he could hear the music stopping abruptly and hushed voices trying to quell the sudden uproar caused by the halt in the party. Ears straining against the door Dipper could only make out one word: COPS! Without warning the door swung open violently revealing a scrawny teen standing at least two feet taller than Dipper with a mop of long blond curls.

"Oh-h shit" He exclaimed in an accent Dipper couldn't quite place. "Yo guys it's just some kid or whatever. False alarm."

Dipper could hear a collective sigh of relief from the parties in the back of the house as the music resumed and people continued on like nothing had happened.

"So what do you want little guy? Out collecting for charity or are you lost?"

The "little guy" comment brought Dipper back to his senses.

"Wha- no I'm not lost. Look I'm here for the party. This is Tambry's house right?"

Blondie shot Dipper a suspicious look. Who was this kid in shorts and what did he think he was doing?

"Look kiddo, I don't know what you heard about this party (air quotes around the word) but this isn't a place for you. How about you turn around and go back home."

Dipper was about ready to do just that. He didn't know what he was doing here, he wanted to go home and make amends with Mabel. Besides, it was clear this was a crowd Dipper just wasn't apart of nor would he ever be. Best just to hang his head and go home like he had been told to do.

Hair like an autumnal red flashed in his mind, the sweet scent of lilac filled his nose, "don't come back" rang in his ears. No, not this time, he wasn't going to run away this time not just for HER but for himself as well.

"Look pal" Dipper's voice coming in strong and authoritative surprising the both of them. "I was invited to this party (no air quotes around the word) by Wendy Corduroy and I know she's going to be pissed if I don't show up. Now do you want me to tell her I couldn't make it because of YOU?"

Blondie had recovered from his shock quicker than Dipper had expected, a look of knowing crossed his face.

"Hey man sorry, didn't know you were tight with wild Wendy. I mean don't get me wrong you ARE a little young but any friend of Wendy's is a friend of mine, name's Jake by the way." Jake formally blondie said as he stepped aside to let Dipper in.

"Hey guys check it out. This kid says he knows Wendy!" Jake shouted as the crowd chanted back

"Woot, woot, Wendy! Wendy!."

A wave of body heat rose to meet Dipper the instant he entered the house causing him to break into a cold sweat almost immediately. Contrary to the dull scene outside this party was in full swing or rather it was outright chaos. The music blared so loud people shouted at one another in close proximity just to barely rise above the din. Bodies swayed back and forth as the music pulled them this way and that. The kitchen counter top was lined with empty bottles of long spent alcohol, Dipper could just make out the names of a few: Everclear, Captain Morgan, Crystal Skull, the rest had their labels turned away from him.

"So listen little dude if you're trying to find her I think I saw her going downstairs."

"Huh? What? Wait a minute who are we talking about here?" Dipper was too distracted by the mass of grinding bodies to pay attention to Jake.

"Uh, Wendy. The girl you SAID you knew. I thought I saw her going downstairs man so let's go look for her."

Dipper tried to walk away but Jake wouldn't let him go.

"So how exactly did you say you met her, Wendy I mean. She like what your sister, cousin…or what?"

This guy was getting annoying.

"Uh, we work together and she invited me here so yeah." Dipper said distractedly as he plowed his way through the wall of people.

"That's cool man. So like…"

"Dude, Jake! Tambry's upstairs man and she's asking for you." *wink, wink*

Some brown haired blob had morphed out of the crowed and saved Dipper from Jake the overbearing.

"Welp looks like it's time to put on another show. Nice talking to you kiddo." and just like that Jake vanished into the crowd never to be seen again…Dipper hoped.

Dipper pushed further into the crowd, the basement steps now visible.

"Oh my god did you see what Kasey was wearing? She is such a total slut."

"Yeah man I don't know about the Luke guy he seems fine but I heard he's a real asshole."

"Holy shit dude we smoked so much that night I can't even remember what we did. Like 10 bowls a piece? We were so faded."

All this insipid conversation surrounding him, filling his ears as he passed by groups and groups of partiers. Everyone was so vapid, so self-interested it made Dipper want to throw up. These were exactly the type of people that teased and ridiculed him back in California, the reckless sort who smashed up people's lives without a second thought and laughed it off as if it were nothing. So what was Wendy doing here with them?

As Dipper descended the stairs he noticed the air was thick with a pungent smell that made his eyes water. It smelled vaguely like that time Mabel tried to bedazzle a skunk in their backyard and was sprayed head to toe for her "reclaimed animal art." It was something he couldn't quite put his finger on; not cigarette smoke no it was darker, danker than that. He got the feeling that staying down here too long wouldn't be good for his health.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs he found himself at the intersection of a long hallway, to his left was a row of doors. The wet, sickly sound of flesh pounding against flesh and moaning could be heard behind them reminding him of the "adult research" he had conducted on the internet over the past year. "Anything to seem more grown up for Wendy" had been his motto…until his parents had caught him. That was an awkward moment in his life. He decided that his right would yield more promising results. Besides, he didn't want to think about finding Wendy behind one of the doors on his left.

The hall to his right opened into a large room where more music blared as voices rose to be heard. The further Dipper walked the more light headed he began to feel. Was it just him or was this smoke doing something to his head. Time began to slow down and the hall stretched forever but Dipper didn't care, he couldn't care less about anything, whatever the acrid smoke was doing to him it carried his worries as it drifted overhead and away.

When Dipper finally reached the room at the end of the hall he could only stare. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised considering the upstairs and yet still shock spread across his face. The room was little more than dry wall and popcorn ceiling but it was still a party palace. Cups of beer stacked like bowling pins stood on either side of a door that had been torn from its hinges and laid flat over a TV stand and a mini-fridge. Strange edm music like a dying modem screeched from someone's iPhone plugged into the speaker system. The people laughed, talked, took shots and smoked clumsily rolled joints (Dipper had been to enough D.A.R.E. classes provided by his school to make an educated guess at what they were).

_What the Hell am I doing here?_ He thought. _What the hell is Wendy doing here?_ A flash of crimson caught his eye in the crowd of swaying bodies then he head a laugh, her laugh.

"Wendy!?" She didn't hear him. "Wendy!"

The lanky redhead turned a little too quickly and stumbled on her feet, her eyes were bloodshot and unfocused as she tried to recall who he was. Suddenly recognition spread across her face and a little bit of intelligence flickered behind her eyes with it.

"Oh my God, Dipper what are you doing here?" Had she forgotten about him in such a short period of time? His heart plummeted.

"Um…you invited me. Remember?"

**000**

*sigh* Mabel stared out of her bedroom window at the setting sun. Maybe it was 9:00 maybe it was only 7:30, she was pretty certain Dipper had left hours ago for his stupid party or whatever. It didn't matter to her though, nothing did.

"Bachi balls, why does Dipper have to be such a butt?"

The twins had always been close, maybe even a little too close as some people liked to infer, but here, now, staring out her window chewing on a stand of hair Mabel wasn't sure they would be again. She let out another sigh as she became lost in her thoughts _If only he had listened to me or anyone ever maybe he wouldn't have to be so alone, maybe Waddles would still be alive but nooo he just had to break off a chunk of that…_

A flash of blue green light could be seen in the distance, somewhere far off in the Gravity Falls forest. Mabel stood up squinting her eyes as tightly as she could trying to see the origin of the light. Nothing. Mabel sat back down.

"Must have been the sun playing tricks on me."

But out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of it again, this time it was bigger and brighter than before. Suddenly a tremor shook the house nearly sending her to the floor. Something about the light rang of familiarity. She'd seen it before, in the strange nightmares she'd been having every night since returning to the town. A feeling of foreboding welled up in her stomach. Something bad was about to happen she could sense it and with no one in the Mystery Shack to help it was up to her to deal with the situation.

"Gah, come on can't I get a break? Just this once?" She muttered under her breath as she stuffed supplies into her back pack.

"Grappling hook, extra hooks, a proper flashlight…yup, that should do it…I hope." She said to herself racing out the door. Little did she know she would never enter her gruncle's tourist trap again.

**000**

*sigh* Gideon stared at the rusted hunk of metal that bore his visage, its one good eye staring back at him.

"Don't suppose you'd know where to find an alternative power source for yer'self?"

The eerie silence that followed was interrupted by a gust of wind whistling through the trees. It was all the reply he needed

"So, I guess you'll just have ta do then little feller." He said as he manipulated the turquoise stone in his hands.

Pulling himself up from the log he had been sitting on Gideon raised his hands to the sky above willing the metal beast in front of him to move with the power of his stone. Bluish green waves of energy cascade over the forest floor and entangled themselves with the robot as Gideon concentrated with all his might forcing life into the machine. The ground began to tremble as it rose up taller than any of the surrounding trees.

When she had asked him to come to his family's old warehouse and given him both the Gideon-bot and another psychic stone Pacifica had been very specific about its use. So what if he went a little overboard and tried to kill the Pines twins with a cave in using the stone's power? So what if it was slowly draining his essence making it harder to use? None of that mattered now, the path ahead was so clear. If she wanted the journals so badly, the journals that Stan had taken from him, then he would get them for her. As plain and simple as that. Her love for him would be all the strength he'd need to pull this off.

"Better get a move on then."

**000**

Dipper could not recall a time in his life he had felt this good. Sure there had been reservations at first but one sip from the bowl of fruit punch and he was feeling…better. No, he was better than better he was feeling GREAT! The room spun as his head drifted above it all, light as air. Nothing could weigh him down now not Waddles, Mabel, or even himself. He was sailing; a rocket ship borne into the atmosphere never to come down.

To her credit Wendy had tried to stop him from drinking the punch, something about it being laced with enough alcohol to power a car and too much to handle but Dipper had drunk anyways. He was tired of the "little kid" persona everyone attached to him, he wasn't a kid he was a man and tonight he was going to prove it. Dipper refilled his cup and took another swig. He could hear the crowd cheering all around him.

"Man that guy is crazy"

"Dude what is that? Like 7 shots worth now? Maybe we should do something?"

"Ha-ha, man this kid ROCKS! I am so posting this on twitter."

After so many Dipper couldn't even taste the metallic tang that had laced his first cup. Slamming the empty cup down Dipper pumped his fists in the air as everyone cheered him on. He WAS the king of the world.

Suddenly a soft but firm hand was on his shoulder and he felt himself yanked away from the crowd.

"Alright mystery boy I think you've had enough."

Her speech was slurred but there was something there that told him resisting would be futile. Wendy's fiery curls burned around her freckled face as she drew him closer to her and away from the mass of huddled bodies.

"So…" Dipper began, rubbing the back of his neck feeling an entirely different sort of high creep into his chest.

"You know, this party wasn't supposed to be like this, right?" Wendy said gesturing to the crowded basement "Honestly it was only going to be just me Tambry, Nate, Thompson and Jake but then I guess some other people heard about it and things just kinda got outta hand after that, ya'know?"

Partially because he had nothing cool or interesting to say and partially because he was fighting the punch rotting in his stomach, trying to keep it down Dipper opted to stay silent instead only nodding. With each motion the room swam up and down, he hoped he didn't look too much like a bobble head figure.

She ran her hand through her hair exasperated by the effort as she tried to stay focused.

"Sorry, look I'm butchering this but what I'm trying to say is I'm glad you came. It's been kinda lonely here since you left. I mean zombies and ghosts? Who would even think something like that could be real?"

_It's not my fault all this paranormal stuff happens to me…mostly._ Dipper thought bitterly.

Wendy was laughing. "Look I'm sorry I'm usually not so nervous about this stuff. Here look I'm just going to go ahead and do it alright?"

Dipper didn't have the faintest idea what she was talking about now. Somewhere along the way the room had begun to spin and tilt of its own accord, not just when Dipper moved his head from side to side. His lips felt numb, his whole body felt numb. There was a sickness slowly building in his stomach, threatening to burst out of his mouth, balling his hands into fist was all he could do to keep it down. Wendy was still talking, talking about something he couldn't concentrate on. In fighting the alcohol in his system he had lost the thread of conversation and now he couldn't pick it back up. Maybe whatever she had been drinking before he arrived had finally gotten to her head to because nothing was making any sense.

He was about to ask her to repeat herself when he realized how close her face was to his. He could smell the alcohol on her breath, something that made him wrinkle his nose even in his numbed state. She was so close to him now; what had she been talking about? Was this it? His breath left him as she closed her eyes and inched closer. YES! He, Dipper Pines, was about to make out with his dream girl. Everyone and everything else be damned! This was his moment! Dipper closed his eyes and inched closer, trying to mimic her moves and not screw this up.

"COPS!"

"Everybody get out Cops are coming. Ethan was just on Borstat ST. and said there were a couple of squad cars heading this way! Come on people let's move. Come on, come on!

Dipper opened his eyes disappointed. The moment was gone before it even began.

**000**

Gruncle Stan's car rolled lazily down the dirt road leading towards the Mystery Shack. Its radio squeaked and crackled with static as it played If I Didn't Care by the Ink Spots on an oldies station he had found.

"Rotten kids these days." He fumed, recalling the brain dead employee manning the only hardware store in town.

"Sir, I understand you've been doing these arts and crafts projects for a while now but trust me those cables won't do you any good. Now THESE will help you build…um…whatever you were working on." The store clerk motioned to the colorful plastic tubes on Stan's left. Cheap. Couldn't run a current through them. Pink. Not what Stan was looking for at all.

"Seriously though sir, those cables you were looking at were industrial grade. Only good for running a lot of power through them but otherwise really hard to pose like you would want in your exhibits. Ha-ha, you're not like not like trying to power the city or something right? Anyways, checkout lane is this way Mr. Pines."

Stan didn't want to give any hint as to what he might be doing beneath the Mystery Shack so he reluctantly drove off with a trunk full of pink plastic tubes. Luckily he was able to steal the industrial strength cables when the kid had his turned.

*sigh* "Cannot keep doing this."

The road before him was pitch black. There were no street lights and with no moon light to shine through the overgrown trees Stan had to rely on his discount headlights and poor eyesight to find his way in the dark. He never saw the felled tree in the middle of the road until it was too late.

*CRASH*

Head still fuzzy from the impact Stan awoke with his face pressed against the steering wheel. His head ached from the huge gash that had opened up above his right eye and his ears still rung from the collision. Picking his cracked glasses off the floor of the car he kicked his door open and stepped out into the night.

"What the…was that always here? Who put this tree in my road!?" He shouted at the heavens.

He still had no idea how long he had been out as his head still spun making it hard to focus on the present until he noticed the damage to his car.

"Oh no, no no no no! Come on really!? You're really going to make me buy pink plastic junk AND take my car from me in the same night!?" He screamed at the stars above.

This night was turning into the worst of his life and that was saying a lot. He was just about to call AAA when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him as leaves were trampled underfoot.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Whoever it was didn't respond but they were drawing closer. _If only it wasn't so dark out _He thought peering into the inky blackness.

"I have been on this earth for a long time so I know a LOT about whooping some ass." Stan shouted as menacingly as he could, rolling up his sleeves preparing to deck anything that might leap out from the shadows. Suddenly the footsteps came to a halt. Stan could finally see his diminutive assailant. A kid with puffed silver hair, something bluish green glowing around Gideon's neck.

"Hello Stanford."


	11. Hospital Visits

*haha* "so you spent the whole day in there?"

Her laugh was just too infectious to ignore, despite having just described one of the worst days of his life Dipper could only laugh along with Wendy.

"Hey man I'm sorry to hear that. People can be real assholes sometimes." An image of Robby flashed through the red head's mind.

The smell of summer on the cool breeze felt invigorating and spurred their inebriated conversation as the pair walked along the poorly lit dirt road. It wasn't too long ago that Tambry's party had been crashed by the cops. People had piled over one another in a desperate struggle to get out of there (nobody wants a felony charge on their record) and in the ensuing chaos Dipper and Wendy had ended up together walking back to the Mystery Shack talking, laughing, and ducking into ditches whenever a cop car passed by. A moment or two passed in silence as Wendy sobered up a bit.

"Listen Dipper about tonight I-"

"Don't worry about it I had a lot of fun. I mean I was surprised but it wasn't all bad." In truth it had been THE best night in Dipper's life.

"That's not what I mean…I mean *sigh* look you're a little tipsy (it was more than that but Wendy didn't want to press the matter) and, I don't know, I feel kinda responsible. You know?"

Dipper blinked, the last trace of alcohol in his system was making him bolder. "Wendy? Why did you…ugh, I mean we didn't but we almost…y-you know."

"Kissed?"

Neither spoke for a while choosing to walk down the dark road in silence. Maybe this was an issue he shouldn't have pressed, maybe he should have just shut up while he was ahead but it wasn't fair that he should never know. He had to know, had to understand why. Dipper could feel a gap forming between them.

"Do you ever feel lost Dipper? Not like, literally lost, but like, I don't know the whole world is an ocean and you're drowning in it along with everyone else except everyone else is getting life rafts and stuff but not you?"

"What?" Dipper was shocked he had never seen Wendy so…so contemplative. It was weird.

"Oh you know what I mean. I'm just saying that I feel trapped in this town. Everyone is already talking about SAT's and college and…and dad just wants to keep me here in the family business as a lumberjack, but I don't know. I mean I don't hate the idea of being here with my family and all but I mean I want to do more, I feel like I should do more with my life, see more of the world. IT ALL JUST MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM SOMETIMES!" *Sigh* "I don't know, I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if I get stuck here you've shown me that it's not so bad. I mean this place really IS magical."

His heart plummeted. It's not every day one finds out they're only loved because they make another person's hell barely livable.

"So why don't you then?"

"Why don't I what?"

"Scream; scream as loud as you can. Heck I'll even get you started."

That was how Dipper found himself on a dirt road in the middle of the night screaming his lungs out next to the girl of his dreams. What happened next took him completely by surprise.

"Dipper? Don't hate me for this."

"Wha-"

There was a flash of red hair, parted lips and before Dipper knew what was happening he and Wendy were sharing their first kiss. At first he felt a little awkward and taken aback, but as the seconds past he put more of himself, more passion into it. It was incredible.

"Wow!" Dipper wheezed, breaking away. He was still hoarse from screaming at the top of his lungs. Wendy's face was flushed, Dipper couldn't tell if it was from the screaming or the kiss.

"So what do we do now?" He asked.

She gave him a knowing smile "I can think of a few-"

A truck crept past the couple, blinding them with its headlights until finally crawling to a stop only a few yards ahead of them. Both Dipper and Wendy felt a spike of fear. The dirt road they were on only went to the Mystery shack and it wasn't open at this time of night. Gravity falls may have been a small town but it still had its share of troubles. Maybe it was just another tourist looking for directions or maybe not. Dipper moved in front of Wendy as they edged closer to the car.

The truck itself was rickety and rusted away at the seams. Mud coated most of its surface making it almost unrecognizable in the dark of the night. It wasn't until both Dipper and Wendy were right next to it that the dilapidated mess on wheels became familiar.

"Soos!?" they both cried out, annoyed and more than a little embarrassed. How much had the handyman seen before he had stopped along the side of the road?

"Soos! What gives man, you had us freaked that you were some kind of stalker or serial killer. Did you forget your tools again or something?"

For a long while Soos didn't move. The man-child seemed different, changed. He looked more world weary then either Dipper or Wendy had ever seen him. And then "You kids had better get into the car. Stan is in the hospital and they're not sure if he is going to make it past the night."

The annoyance, inebriated joy, and love left Dipper so fast it was if Soos's words had punched the emotion right out of him.

"Wh-what?" he shivered, suddenly the night air seemed colder.

"I'll explain on the way you two just hop in okay dudes."

Dipper listened to it all, how a hitch-hiker had found his great uncle sprawled on the ground outside of his car, how he had had a heart attack from his near miss collision with the tree, and Gruncle Stan's chances of survival: dismal. He listened but didn't comprehend, not really. It all just seemed like another one of the nightmares he had been having recently. Nothing was real.

**000**

It had been an hour sitting in the waiting room as florescent lights hummed overhead. Dipper and Wendy hadn't spoken a word since the car ride to the Gravity Falls hospital as Soos filled out there paper work and spoke with the doctors. Now the three sat in silence waiting to see Stan.

"I take it you're the family?" A short, balding man, hunched over a clipboard, had appeared noiselessly behind them causing the group to jump when he spoke. The white coat draped over his shoulders had a small crimson stain just underneath the arm. _Please don't let that be related_ Dipper hoped.

"Mr. Pines can see you now, but you can't stay for too long it's already past visiting hours. Just remember he's very weak from his ordeal…may not even be that coherent." The doctor never once looked up from his clipboard.

Stan Pines' room smelled strongly of disinfectant and death causing Dipper to nearly choke when he first entered the room. Gruncle Stan was a large man in many ways, he was a physically imposing 6'2", a vicious entrepreneur, and you would be hard pressed to say he didn't have a strong lust for life. That was not the man found in the hospital bed that night. Dipper could hardly believe he was looking at his great uncle. Tired and bedridden Stan's face had become hollow and pasty as his body struggled to keep him alive. Tubes wove their way around him and into his veins like some mutant plant trying to sap the life from his frail body. His eyes were closed as he fought for every breath with the aid of the breathing tubes stuck up his nose. Wendy seemed too shocked to move and Soos kept staring at a stain on the floor, but Dipper, Dipper had to move, to think, it was the only way he could cope with the situation. Gruncle Stan wasn't sitting right on his bed, his pillows needed to be fluffed and rearranged; that was something Dipper could do. He moved to his bedside and reached for the first pillow he could easily slide out and reposition.

*Gasp* a flurry of stiff fingers wrapped around his arm and Stan opened his eyes for the first time in hours.

"G-Gid-Gideon" His voice was soft and raspy from dehydration Wendy and Soos were at his side before Dipper could even blink.

"Mr. Pines! I…I thought we had lost you." Soos bellowed through his hat as he tried to stem the flow of tears with it. Even Wendy seemed on the verge of crying "I knew you wouldn't die like that" she said, more to herself than anyone else.

Stan tried to push himself up with weak, shaky arms. The effort was too much, however, and gravity drove him back to the mattress, so he laid there arms crossed over his chest, eyes searching in vain for the familiar.

"Wh-where am I?"

Soos was the first to speak "you're in the hospital dude. The police said you almost hit a tree that had fallen on the road driving back to the Mystery Shack. They assumed you had a heart attack from the sudden surprise…you know, because you're kinda old and stuff."

Vivid memories ran through Stan's mind, memories of Gideon choking the life out of him with some unseen force, even going so far as to stop his heart, and something else…

"The journals!" Everyone in the room jumped, starlted by Stan's outburt, they thought he had lost his mind.

"He's…he said he was looking for the journals! I don't know how he found out I had them but he has. I mean the kid is crazy but I've never seen him like that before. It was like he was possessed or something. He had some sort of amulet? I-I don't remember much b-but you gotta…"

It took a moment before Dipper could register the spew of information but when he did, anger flared inside of him. "Gruncle Stan? Are you telling me that Gideon did this to you? That he is heading towards the Mystery Shack right now? Where Mable is?"

*argh* Kid, listen you can use the phone at the front desk to call the house. Tell Mabel to get outta there. Then I want you to call the cops. L-let them deal with that psychopath."

"No." The room fell silent and only the beeping of the machines keeping Stan alive could be heard. Everyone waiting on Dipper.

This wasn't right. Gideon's lust for power had nearly killed him and his sister on more than one occasion and now he had done something to Stan, something the doctors weren't sure they could fix? No, this wasn't a matter for the police to handle. If anyone was going to put an end to Gideon it would be him. It HAD to be him. For all the bullying he had endured, for all the taunting from reckless uncaring people like Gideon. It had to be him.

The old man's eyes were half open now and threatening to drop further. "…should never have taken it from you, shouldn't have built the damn thing. Wasn't really going to fix anything anyways. I should have just let things be…I'm so sorry…"

Dipper wanted nothing more than to shake Stan awake. What were all three journals doing at the Mystery Shack? What did Gideon want with them? What had Gruncle Stan been up to? Dipper wanted to ask him, wanted all of his questions answered but he knew that would have to wait, Stan was in no condition to respond.

**000**

Soos' pick-up truck flew down the road as Wendy honored her newly acquired driver's license by breaking every speed limit and ignoring all red lights. Her speed matching the fury and desperation both she and Dipper felt. When Mabel had failed to answer the phone Soos had opted to stay behind at the hospital to care for Stan while Wendy and Dipper went after her. It was a good thing too or Soos he might have cried to see his driver's side mirror taken clean off as Wendy swerved to avoid a head on collision with another car.

"Gah! Can't this thing go any faster!?"

Another hard turn and both passenger and driver were nearly thrown into the same seat as they sped down the dirt road towards the Mystery Shack.

If Wendy hadn't sensed something looming in the dark they would have crashed head first into the same tree as Gruncle Stan. Instead they skidded to a halt and leapt out of the car. Dipper took a moment to look back down the dirt road where they had come from. _We were only a few yards from all of this_ He thought bitterly. _I could have done something I could have-_

_*_CRASH_*_

The Gideon-bot rained a metallic fist down onto the front end of the truck and turned 800 lbs of metal to a pulp. Gideon stepped out of the shadows clutching a glowing turquoise amulet to his chest.

"Why hello friends I've been expecting you."


	12. For the Love of Revenge

"Why hello friends I've been expecting you." Gideon said around a growing smirk.

His southern accent soft and pleasant intoned a sort of psychotic menace. Dipper looked back at the ruined mess Gideon had made of Soos's truck. _He's really lost it this time. That could have been us_.

"What do you want this time you little creep?" Wendy shouted, balling her fists in a show of anger despite being shaky from her brush with death.

Dipper's eyes roamed upwards at the massive metal beast hidden in the shadows and foliage of the forest just behind its master. Beating a psychic Gideon would be one thing but getting past the Gideon-bot would be too much for them to handle. Whatever Gideon was up to, it was time to run.

"Heh, it doesn't really matter what I'm doin' here does it girly? All you need to know is this: another step and I'll crush you both."

Dipper only had to remember what happened to his uncle to know Gideon was serious.

"Right now my little peach dumplin' is taking those journals far from here. Heh, and wouldn't you know it? Stan had all three of them inside the Mystery Shack this whole time. Hidden right under the floor boards in an underground bunker…and that machine. Your uncle was a very tricky guy Dipper I'll say that about him. Just you wait though, we unlock the secrets of all three journals and she and I will rule. Not just this town either, but the world. Ain't notn' you can do about it now boy."

_Wait, what did he just say? Is someone else helping him?_ Now Dipper was confused. He'd known that he had hurt Mabel a lot but could he have hurt her enough to push her this far? To work with Gideon? To steal the journals? _No! _ A voice shouted in his head. _She'd never do that no matter how bad things got…right?_

"What are you talking about Gideon? Mabel doesn't like you remember? She can't even stand the sight of you!" His words held more conviction than he did.

"Hehe, oh you and your crazy conspiracies Dipper. No, no your sister is dead to me. I've found someone more…interesting."

Never had Dipper felt such a strange mix of disgust and relief, but if not Mabel then who?

"Welp its been fun but I can't abide you any longer, so…."

Gideon clutched the turquoise gem in his hand as it glowed brighter and brighter until it seemed Gideon was holding the sun in the palm of his hand. He then pointed it at the hulking metal giant half hidden by the trees.

"Rise! Rise up and crush them!"

Nothing. Gideon's machination stayed perfectly still. Dipper breathed a sigh of relief.

"Looks like your act could use a little work Gideon." It would seem Gideon had run out of power…this was going to be easy.

Dipper failed to notice the small flicker of light in the robot's eyes until it was too late. Suddenly blue green light bust from the creature's ruined eye and washed over its head before cascading down the rest of its body. Unmoving fingers squeaked as Gideon's magic brought them to life. Its head swiveled to stare at Wendy and Dipper as its legs screeched metal on metal as the colossal tower of soulless rust was brought to life.

"Time to finish what I started last year boy!"

Gideon got behind the robot, controlling it like a puppet. Where he stepped it stepped, where he looked it looked; perfect mimicry.

"Dipper! What the hell is that thing!?"

_That's right, Wendy never saw the Gideon bot and she's had never seen the source of his little "act"._ This was all new to her. Dipper hated himself for bringing her into this situation he should have just left her at the hospital with Soos and Stan. Too late now.

Dipper looked over at Wendy. "Just do what you can to avoid him for now. Get to the woods and make a run for the road there's no way we're getting past him like this." Before he could get another word out Gideon slammed his fist down and the robot followed nearly crushing Dipper in the process.

*crash*

"You think you can get away just like that!? After what you put me through. I lost my show, my fame, and 1 year of my life! No, no you don't get to escape this time. This time I'm going to win. I'm going to live happily ever after with my Pacifica. ME! Not you."

_Pacifica!? That's who's been helping him?_ Dipper thought seconds before the G-bot's hand swept the ground kicking up dirt and rock as it slammed into Dipper's chest sending him flying *omph* was all he could get out as the wind was driven from his lungs the instant he hit the ground. The acid tang of copper swelled in his mouth as his vision swam, flickered and died.

"Dipper!"

Wendy could see The Gideon bot was closing in on Dipper's slumped over form. He wasn't even conscious as a small trickle of blood lazily snaked its way past his lips. She had to think quickly; picking up a rock she chucked it at the metallic head. A hollow *ding* could be heard as the rock collided with its intended target before bouncing away harmlessly.

"Hey Gideon! How many boyfriends did you make in prison?"

The G-bot came to a halt as Gideon turned sharply to face the red head.

"What did you say to me girl?"

Wendy now had his full attention "I asked you if you ever dropped the soap in the showers at the Gravity Falls Penitentiary. Knowing you it was probably a lot."

Gideon's temper flared to new heights as the metal behemoth made its way towards her.

"Oh' I'm going to make you hurt."

The Gideon bot was able to close the gap between itself and Wendy faster than she would have liked. _It's just like wrestling a bear it's just like wrestling a bear…a giant mechanical bear with poufy hair._ She told herself. Gideon didn't give her much time to react. Wordlessly he slammed his fist into the ground and his mechanical counterpart followed suit nearly flattening Wendy. Rolling to her side she picked a rock off the ground and flung it as hard as she could. *ping* her shot had been dead center but a turquoise, translucent barrier erected itself around Gideon before the projectile could even make contact. So now he not only had the G-bot but he was untouchable as well? Dipper was right; she should have run when she had the chance.

"Ha! Not so talkative now eh? What? Did you think you could beat ME? Oh I don't think so little red, I don't think so."

The Gideon bot made a sweeping motion with its hand taking out anything in its path. Wendy leapt back as best she could but grace was never her strong suit. Her back foot caught on a rock and she fell backwards, head crashing into the hard packed earth.

"Ow, son of a bitch." She spat pulling herself up.

The robot was on her in a heartbeat. Wendy bobbed and weaved out of range and picked up

another rock, flinging it harder than the last. *ping* Gideon only smirked

"What are you playing at? You know you can't touch me, right?"

*ping*

"Ha, stupid redneck. I can keep this up all day."

*ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* It wasn't a matter of hitting him now. If only she could drive him away from Dipper then maybe she could…

"Gotch'ya!" Cold steel wrapped around her left leg and lifted her into the air as if she weighed nothing.

Dipper's eyes fluttered open; the world was a blur that swam before him shifting this way and that. The faint taste of blood still hung in his mouth as he tried to prop himself up and found that he couldn't, collapsing in pain as his muscles exploded with soreness.

"Ugh, why couldn't Gideon just have killed me?"

His eyes shot open as he recalled where he was, the world no longer a blur.

"Gideon!"

Gideon was turned away from him maybe even giving him up for dead. _Wendy! Where is Wendy? _ He frantically searched the surrounding area for her _Can't see her maybe she got away maybe…_ A scream of surprise tore him from his thoughts as he watched the Gideon bot pick up his girlfriend and dangle her in the air. He had to get its attention somehow, give her some way to escape. Dipper moved his hand to his pockets then the surrounding area. He had to find something to get the robot's attention anything would do even…Dipper's hand brushed against the flashlight he had brought along in his back pocket. The casing was cracked and the glass was all but crushed. It would never function as a flashlight again, but maybe it could find an enterprising career as a weapon. Silently hating himself for not doing enough pushups in gym Dipper flung the flashlight as hard as he was able *clang* the hollow metal sound of the collision reverberated through the night air as the flashlight made contact with the G-bot's head. Gideon slowly turned around making a big show of it as he went.

"Well well well. Looks like someone finally decided to wake up and join the living and just in time for the big show too."

The Gideon bot's arm was yanked upwards pulling Wendy with it. She let out a pained shriek as something popped.

"Jesus Gideon! Stop it you're hurting her."

"Well that would be the idea boy."

The mechanical arm jerked this way and that taking Wendy with it. Her body flapped along uselessly no longer uttering howls of pain but remaining silent as tears streamed down her face. The scene reminded Dipper of a child carelessly flinging a rag doll about. Finally the violence ended as the Gideon bot released its grip letting her fall to the ground below. A sickening *crunch* could be heard as Wendy's leg made contact with the ground. That was it. THIS was the last straw. Dipper's fists where clenched so hard they had gone white from lack of circulation. His breath came in ragged shallow gasps. First his uncle and now Wendy? He didn't care how he was going to do it he just knew one thing: Gideon was going to pay for this.

Dippers mind raced. _Alright if I'm going to do this I've got to be smart about it. First things first I need to get him away from Wendy then I'll pull him into the woods. The G-bot shouldn't be able to move too well in there. If I can just…_

*BANG!*

An explosion of green filled the night sky as crackling tendrils of electricity extended reaching for the stars overhead. Dipper turned around in time to see the remains of the Mystery Shack's roof come raining down upon him. *clang, clang, clang* The shingles bounced harmlessly off of the Gideon bot's metal frame shielding Gideon and Wendy from the debris with its girth. Dipper barely had enough time to throw his arms in front of his face blocking a plank of wood that had been sent sailing by the explosion.

"Whoo hoo boy, looks like my darling Pacifica had a bit of a going away present for y'all. Don't know what you did to piss her off so much but I'd say the Pines family is officially done in this town."

_Mabel!? She wasn't in there still was she? No, no she got she had to have gotten out!_ Dipper was lost in the haze of his own thoughts. Time seemed to stand still and everything froze _Not her. Please God not her._

"Now it's time to get yours boy."

As Gideon strode over to Dipper the iron giant followed leaving the earth quaking with each footstep. Dipper pulled himself up to face Gideon and nearly collapsed at the pain wracking his body. He wanted to hurt Gideon the same way he had hurt Wendy and Stan and his sister, make him beg and then refuse mercy, he wanted a bloodbath but as things stood he would have to settle for being the one who was pummeled. Gideon was almost on him now, a sadistic fire burning behind his eyes. The G-bot lurched forward arm extending to claw at him. This was it; this was how it was going to end.

When Gideon was close enough for Dipper to see the whites of his eyes he noted something peculiar. _Man this kid sweats a lot, it's not like he's been doing much of anything himself. The Gideon bot has been doing most of the work._ And then…_ Wait! That's it. The pulsing temple, the sheen of sweat. Gideon is overexerting himself by focusing on powering the robot. He can't keep this up forever…in fact…yeah if I could just get him to push himself just a little more he looks like he'd break._ Too late, an iron fist closed around his body squeezing him until breathing became a chore. Maybe the plan would have worked if he had thought of it sooner, maybe if he still had more time…maybe…

"Grappling hook!"

A high pitched voice shouted from somewhere in the woods as a metallic hook shot out from between the trees at high velocity, flukes poised to tear at Gideon's flesh. *Ah* Gideon let out an equally high pitched scream as his turquoise shield raised itself reflexively. *ping* the hook bounced off harmlessly but the shield didn't stay for long Dipper noted. Furious, Gideon wheeled around in the direction of the shot.

"YOU!? You little witch! Where did you come from?"

Mabel had left the Mystery Shack hours ago intending to find the source of the blue green light that had erupted from the forest, hoping it would help take her mind off of the cave in and the loss of Waddles instead she wound up lost, alone, and afraid. Directionless, she wondered for hours until the sun had long gone down and nothing could be heard save for the strange noises of the forest. It wasn't until the great commotion at the Mystery Shack did she find her way back, following the sound of falling trees and quaking ground. Good thing she brought her grappling hook.

"Mabel!" Gidoen raged "I'm going to crush you like I crushed that pig of yours." Mabel stood, rooted to the spot. Gideon's words hallowing her out. She felt sick. It had been Gideon this whole time? But her brother…she had said all of those things to him, treated him with such coldness. Just to hurt him for…

"W-What did you say?"

*Crash*

The G-bot's fist slammed into her sending her flying into a nearby tree.

*huff, huff* "Woowee, this is just too good. Guess I really am clean'n house tonight. Stanford, his two bratty kids and ultimate power? I'm lovin' this!"

That was it. For his uncle, his sister, and Wendy. Dipper lurched forward and aimed a kick straight at Gideon's head.

*ping* "Ouch!"

Pain rocketed up his leg as it made contact with Gideon's force field. Despite the appearance of a harmless ray of light, it felt rock solid.

"Well looks like you still have some fight left." Gidoen said turning to face him. "Here, let me crush that right out of you."

Gideon raised his fist and his robot followed suite. It was about to bring its fist down on him when…

"Grappling hook again you little monster!"

Mabel had picked herself up and spared no time in reloading her weapon firing it again with the hopes of ending that creep Gideon. This time her shot dented Gideon's shield.

"Mabel! I'll keep him busy while you reload and fire that thing again. We can beat him if we wear him down enough."

Mabel only gave a nod in the affirmative as Dipper launched himself at Gideon letting loose a flurry of punches. Each one sounding off with a resultant *ping* but each one caused the surface of the shield to give a little more or so it felt. He silently hoped Gideon would fall soon, knuckles bloody from punching the barrier Dipper knew his body wouldn't be able to take much more of this.

"This is for Waddles you jerk!"

Mabel fired another shot cracking Gideon's shield slightly. Gideon wheezed and gasped trying to keep up with the twins while maintaining a defense for both the short and long range attacks. But it was proving too much of a task as the G-bot's arms flapped about uselessly.

*Huff, Huff* "Quit" *Huff* "quit it you *wheeze* bastards."

Gideon was doubled over hands on his knees simultaneously trying to maintain control over the G-bot and keep from collapsing in exhaustion. Not an easy thing to do. Mabel reloaded and fired off another shot. No turquoise shield rose up to meet the projectile instead the Gideon bot's hand swatted it out of the air at the last second. _That's it!_ Dipper thought _This is the turning point, his shield is down._ Dipper pulled back clenching his fist into a tight ball. He wound up putting all of his remaining strength into this last punch and swung.

"OH!" was all Gideon could say as Dipper's fist made contact with the back of his head driving him forward and onto the ground. Without anything left to power it The robot swayed precariously on its feet before falling backwards.

*crunch*

In its fall the G-bot had missed most of Gideon's vital organs, but he would never use his left leg to walk again. Mabel squealed as she raced forward embracing her brother in a bear hug that lifted him off his feet and drove the air from his lungs

"Oooh Dipper, I'm so glad you're alright and I'm so so so sorry for blaming you for Waddles." Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she spoke Dipper knew he could be mad at her if he wanted to but in the end…

"No, Mabel you were right, all those things you said to me…a-about me pushing you aside like that. Well, you were right. I mean I should have listened to you. I don't know how but I promise I'll make it up to you someday okay?" The hug only tightened.

Minutes past before Mabel finally put her brother down, taking a few moments to wipe the remaining tears from her cheeks. "Y'know" Mabel said eyes drawn to the ground. "We're not done yet. That explosion came from the Mystery Shack; we should probably check it out. I mean…we wouldn't be the mystery twins if we didn't."

"Oooohhhh" a low, pained moan filled the air sending a shiver down Dipper's spine. _Wendy! Shit I nearly forgot about her! _Dipper rushed over to where Gideon had thrown her. Reaching her side he had to back up and steel himself at the sight of her leg. Fragments of white could be seen amongst the red viscera as part of her bone stuck out just below the knee cap, her foot bent at an odd angle and blood soaked the length of her torn jeans. Her face was pale white and covered in a thin sheen of sweat from blood loss and pain. She unscrunched her eyes at Dipper's approached.

"D-Dipper? Sounds like it's over. *cough* D-Did we win?" Her voice was barley a whisper.

"Yeah, Yeah I think Gideon is down for good now"

"G-good. I'd hate to lose to that little creep. How's my leg look?" Dipper didn't respond.

"That bad huh? Feels like it's on fire. I don't think I can walk on it."

Dipper's father had always been insistent on leaving his room and learning at least one useful skill in the so-called real world. Dipper was glad he had chosen first aid to be that skill, mostly as a joke. Recalling his training he pulled off his shirt and used it as a makeshift tourniquet to stem the flow of blood. Wendy held back a shriek of pain but tears were still visible on her face.

"Alright Wendy I need you to look at me. I'm just going to set your leg down like so and then we're going to call an ambulance okay?" Another burst of light, the green enveloping the whole group this time as manacle laughter could be heard far off in the distance. Whatever Gideon and Pacifica had started it wasn't over, not by a long shot. Dipper suddenly felt a hand grabbing his arm. Wendy stared up at him.

"You two need to go and put an end to this."

Dipper tried to protest "B-but Wendy. I'm not going…"

He was silenced by her wispy thin fingers pressed against his lips. "Dipper? I've survived ghosts and my father's lumberjacking competitions. This isn't my first broken leg, I'll be fine but you need to stop whatever is going on over there."

Dipper could only nod his head: yes. "Good, just promise me you'll sock Gideon's pricy little girlfriend for me and HARD."

"I will." And like that the twins ran down the dirt path towards the Mystery Shack leaving Wendy to call for help from her cell.

Finally they reached the clearing where their uncle had built his house and ran his business. A place where the twins had lived a lifetime of love, loss, and adventure in the town of Gravity Falls. But to see the Mystery Shack in such ruins was more than a little jarring for the pair. Bits and pieces of the roof lay everywhere after the explosion had ripped through the already dilapidated building. It seemed as if Gideon's had ordered his robot to smash its way through the front of the store as well as part of the back. Mabel gripped her brother's arm as they starred at the ruined mess. It wasn't just their uncle's business it was their home that had been reduced to splinters. The only place in the world that truly felt familiar to them.

"D-Dipper?"

"I know Mabel. I know"

Starring up at a Mystery Shack abandoned, vacant and destroyed by some incredible force sent a shot of Déjà vu running through Dipper's mind. He had seen this before. He had been warned of this in his dreams. In the nightmares that had plagued him since his return to Gravity Falls. Mabel found herself having a similar experience of familiarity, finding it hard to take her eyes off the surrounding trees set ablaze by the fiery explosion.

*ah-hahahahehehe*

The cold laughter snapped the twins back to reality. "That came from the backyard!" Mabel shouted as both twins raced around the side of the house neither prepared for what they saw... Pacifica lay unconscious on the ground as Bill Cipher floated above her.

"B-Bill!?"

The creature turned to face them "Hiya kids."


	13. Sweet Dreams are Made of This

"Oh my god…our home."

Mabel stared at the burning wreckage in front of her. The Mystery Shack was in complete ruins; the roof of the building had been torn and splintered in the explosion scattering the surviving sections to the ground and the surrounding forest. The entire backside had been ripped away allowing Mabel to look into the kitchen and part of her room from where she was standing and the night sky danced orange and red from the dying fires among the trees.

The worst of the destruction, however, had occurred in the backyard where it appeared as if the Gideon-bot had been ordered to punch a massive hole into the ground leading to a bunker buried deep beneath the Mystery Shack. It was impossible to tell what it was used for as whatever lay down there had been smashed to unrecognizable pieces. Huge slabs of concrete that had been the bunker's ceiling now lay fragmented and embedded in the lawn. Looking over the ruined landscape Mabel could see some of the chunks of concrete had strange symbols painted on them. Even in the bright light of the fires the symbols seemed to be giving off an acid green glow. Mabel picked up the closest piece she could find awestruck by the crackling green sparks still playing over the oddly shaped rune. She had no idea what purpose it had served or what the room under the Mystery Shack had been used for but it felt right to keep a memento of their former home. _It feels...it feels so warm_ Mabel thought to herself distractedly as she pocketed the fist sized rock. Dipper on the other hand was wide awake and completely focused on one thing.

"I've seen this; I've seen this all happening before…no, wait I livid it in my dreams!"

A passage from the journal flashed through his mind._ …those lucky enough to survive an encounter with the beast known as Bill Cipher will sometimes acquire prophetic powers announcing the return of the monster. Most notably this occurrence happens in cases where the creature has unfinished business with the unlucky recipient(s)_. Dipper couldn't believe how short sighted he had been. There had just been too much to focus on during the week that a few nightmares didn't seem to be that big of a deal. How the hell was he supposed to know he had picked prophetic dream powers just by being close to Bill anyways!? Dipper wondered if Mabel had been experiencing the same thing, if so she never discussed it with him.

"Soooo…..you kids just going to stand there or did you want something? 'Cause I'm done here."

Bill Cipher's voice snapped the twins back to reality. He was still floating over Pacifica's unconscious body amid the ruins of their former home.

"Right, so I'm going to be leaving then if we're done here. Bye-bye forever y'all." Bill turned his back to the twins and began to float away

"Wait! Where the hell do you think you're going Bill?" Dipper shouted

*sigh* What is it pine tree?" Bill said turning to face the twins once again.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why any of this? I-It doesn't make any sense, none of this does. I mean were you behind Gideon and Pacifica this entire time!? A-and the cave in at the mines…Wendy and-and what the hell!?"

*hahahahaha* "So what? This is the part where I tell you all about my evil little schemes then, eh? Is that it kid? You want closure or something?"

"Yes!" Dipper shouted, fists balled in anger. His home had been leveled and his friends and family hurt. He was in no mood for Bill's taunting. Not tonight.

"Well then…I'd love to, but only because I love it when you people flip out."

Something told Dipper that it was actually because Bill loved the sound of his own voice and explaining how clever he was to people he deemed inferior. Still, if he got an explanation he could care less why he received it.

"Basically your uncle has been tampering with forces he couldn't possibly comprehend let alone control and as of late he was getting dangerously close to unleashing something not even I could stop. And of course, as the only demon inhabiting this realm, it fell on me to do something about it. Does that answer your question short stuff?"

"No Bill, it really doesn't." Dipper's irritation was growing with each snide word from Bill.

"Argh, Fine. Well as you can see by the machine Stan built down….well it's kind of wrecked now…hm. Well more or less it WAS an interdimensional portal that, once activated, would have allowed the user to travel to multiple universes. Heh, too bad it was poorly made though right? Activating it would have been catastrophic for this dimension to say the least. I don't have to explain to you what that would mean do I?"

Dipper stumbled backwards dumfounded and yet everything Bill had said made a sick sort of sense when he thought about it. This was what Gruncle Stan had been up to all this time, where he had disappeared to during the day, the loud humming sound coming from under the floorboards. But why had his uncle built this thing and what did he intend to do with it? Did he know what it would do once he activated it? So many questions that might never be answered.

"O-okay, I get that…kind of. But why Pacifica? Did you need her for her connections or her money or whatever?"

Bill's demeanor grew markedly dim at the question. "You understand that I'm a dream demon right kido? Well, that means I can't interact with things in the real world. I'm a being of pure energy. I needed a living vessel to manipulate things in this plain of existence. Like say the journals for example or that infernal portal. I could have ended up inside anyone. It was just blind luck I ended up in little miss popular's body. Especially after Stan made it impossible for me to touch the journals by keeping them enclosed in that room sealed with all of those ruins painted everywhere. Seriously, I have no idea where he found that little incantation but man was it potent. I couldn't even get near the place. Ah well, all it took to get past his security system was Gideon and his robot…and maybe a date." Bill shuddered at memory of their time spent together. That Gideon kid really had some mental health issues. Meanwhile Dipper was beginning to like his uncle less and less.

"Anywho, the portal is gone and the blueprints on how to construct it went up with the journals. So I'm done here. *AH* "Feels great. Mission accomplished and all that."

"Bu-but what about Wendy she's hurt back there. Your little "plan" really almost killed her. It might even cost her, her leg!" Dipper shouted.

"Yeah and what about Waddles?! And Stan? He's lying in a hospital bed right now because of what you've done!" Mabel chimed in.

Bill just shrugged it off "Meh, collateral. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy to do some good. I'd say the ends justify the means in this situation so just deal with it and stop whining. Seriously kids, in this story I'm the good guy."

"So wait, are we the bad guys here?" Mabel asked turning to her brother.

"No, No Mabel. Gruncle Stan is…I think, I don't know maybe. Look, he made his choices and whether or not he knew what the consequences were he still bears some of the responsibility for this…I-I guess? Still, you can point all the fingers you like but the fact of the matter is that there were better ways to solve this Bill. Nobody had to get hurt."

Bill was stunned for a moment. He hadn't done anything wrong. He was the hero, the saving grace. These ingrates just didn't get it that's all and yet…

"Don't look at us like that Cipher. No matter what the reason, that "collateral" you were talking about was our friends and family. People whose lives you've destroyed not because you had to, but because you wanted to." Dipper shouted.

Bill just gave him another shrug. "And what of it kido? In the end, does it really even matter?"

Something inside Dipper snapped. He could have handled the situation if Bill had any remorse for his actions, any sympathy for those he'd hurt but instead he was only met with indifference. Indifference towards his dying uncle, indifference towards Wendy, indifference towards Waddles and- and even Gideon goddamnit. Under the guise of doing the right thing Bill had ruined the lives of the only people he cared about and now he just expected to slink back into the darkness? Not if Dipper Pines had any say in it. He felt a rage boil up within him like he had never felt before. He was strong, he was angry, he could kill. Bill was going to-

"Hey Bill, you isosceles nightmare!" Mabel's rage seemed to match Dipper's own. "Do you have any idea what you put me and my brother through with your stupid little plot!?"

Bill gave one final shrug "Aw, now if only I could care. Oh well."

Turing from the twins one final time Bill raised his arms into the air muttering something incomprehensible. Blue flames erupted from his hands as the chanting became more intense. A few seconds later and the chanting ceased as Bill's body began to vanish particle by particle leaving behind him a triangular shaped tear in space and time. A two-dimensional thing that was and was not there. Impossible to see unless one looked directly at it and it was closing quickly.

Without even thinking about whether or not people could survive on the other side, if at all they could get home or what they would do when they get there both twins, simultaneously sprinted forward into the void jumping into the nether without a second thought.

It was like a window into another world. A flash of light and the scene changed from a burning forest and destroyed building to a Lovecraftian sci-fi landscape. Dipper had never been so amazed by anything in his entire life. The twins found themselves in a black abyss illuminated by hundreds of billions of stars, nebulas, and planetoids far off in the distance. Dipper grabbed at his throat afraid that they may have jumped through a wormhole into the depths of space; cold and with no air. Seconds that seemed to stretch on for an eternity passed before he took a tentative breath confirming that they could survive in this strange place. Beneath them there was nothing, really. No ground to stand on and yet the twins could still feel something solid and smooth like a walkway of glass under their feet. Literally walking amongst the stars the twins followed their invisible path hoping it would lead them to Bill.

After what seemed like hours or maybe even days of walking Mabel finally collapsed face fist onto the nonexistent ground. Sitting up she began to massage the soreness from her calves.

"ARGH! I hate this place. Being here makes me want to punch Bill in his stupid triangle face even more. *sigh* how long have me been here anyways Dipper? It feels like an E-tern-ity."

"I don't know Mabel. Days? Weeks? It's really hard to get a feel for how long its been."

Dipper said glancing down at his watch. The digital face blinked back at him 11:34 then 9:99. Mentally flipping the digital read out upside down in his head he got the message. "Real lame Bill."

"I don't think time has much meaning in this place Mabel…here let me help you with that." Dipper reach out his hand to help his sister back up but it was quickly slapped away.

Mabel stared at her brother in shock. She hadn't meant to do it. It just kind of happened on reflex. Dipper withdrew his hand. Nothing needed to be said between them they both knew that despite being absolved of blame for Waddles Mabel still carried some animosity towards her brother. _She just needs to get used to you again that's all_ Dipper told himself _She'll get over it…with some time…maybe._

He was about to open his mouth. To say something to break the awkward silence that had built up around the two when Mabel's finger shot up nearly taking out Dipper's eye as it went.

"Look! What is that? That wasn't there a second ago!"

At some point a massive pyramid of bright yellow stone had appeared behind the twins. Surrounding it was a sea of sand that fell away into the nothingness after a certain distance. It seemed an impossible thing floating there in the void. How had either twin missed it and why a pyramid of all things? Neither twin cared. They were just happy to see a destination they could actually touch.

"Last one there is an ugly gnome…goofus." Mabel finished awkwardly before sprinting to the giant pyramid.

Mabel skidded to a halt at the edge of the pyramid. At a distance it had been huge but up close it was the biggest thing she had ever seen. A mountain of stacked stone too big to climb and impossible to imagine in height. Partially sunk in the sand were various structures, things that might have been arches, buildings…houses. She shuttered to think what might have happened to the people who built them. Mabel, an artist at heart, couldn't help but admire the architecture surrounding the pyramid despite herself. Some structures were formless blobs of stone with no rhyme or reason balancing in impossible ways while others seemed to be an amalgam of ecludian shapes, mashed together in ways that didn't make sense. This was truly a place beyond space and time.

Dipper, having lost the race, nearly collapsed onto the sand below before coming to rest against the side of the pyramid. He struggled to regain his composer.

*huff, huff* "Mabel, you gotta learn to slow down we don't know anything about this place. I mean, I'm pretty certain there is nothing underneath all this sand what if you fell through or something?"

"psh, whatever gnome boy. Check this thing out."

Dipper looked up to see Mabel standing at the foot of what appeared to be a statue. Getting closer he found it was a statue carved in a familiar triangular shape. At the base of the statue an inscription read _Bill Cipher, Your God_.

"Well someone like himself a lot." Dipper muttered under his breath.

*sigh* "What the hell are you two doing here?" The voice was Bill's but it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once maybe even emanating from the pyramid itself.

"Come on out Bill and face us like a man…er space demon? Whatever you are." Mabel shouted into the void.

At first there was nothing but soon a low rumble could be felt all around them as Bill's statue rose up floating in midair. It split and cracked as an unseen force tore it apart. There was a flash of blinding white light. The twins shielded their eyes as Bill Cipher materialized before them.

"So What? You kids here to get revenge or something?" *haha* "Then what? You wander this realm for eternity? Please, don't make me laugh."

This was the moment of truth, everything had led up to this one moment and nothing would be the same after it.

"No Bill." Dipper shouted "We aren't here for revenge or anything like that. We want to make sure you can't hurt anyone ever again.

Such bold words coming from "little Dipper" only made the demon laugh harder. "Come and try me kid!"

Dipper reacted faster than Mabel could, snatching the grappling gun strapped to her side. Dipper took aim and fired. It missed. Rather it would have hit if the hook didn't phase through Bill entirely.

"Wow kid you sure showed me, boy howdy I'm feeling vanquished." Bill rolled his eye, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Here kid let me show you how it's done."

Before either twin could react blue lighting shot from Bill's hand. It struck Dipper in the shoulder sending his limp form flying. His body rolled coming to a stop near the edge of the pyramid so close to oblivion. A dark red circle could be seen forming around the wound.

"Dipper! Hang on!" Mabel shouted as she ran to help her brother. Reaching Dipper's unconscious body Mabel began to shake him awake trying her best to not look at the gaping red hole just above his arm. The heat of the lightning had done much to cauterize it but blood still streaked down his arm in some places. Bill was nearly on them now. _A wall, we need a wall! _Mabel concentrated as hard as she was able attempting to conjure a shield of sorts. They had done it before; they had beaten Bill inside Gruncle Stan's mind so why should this be any different? _Something anything…please. _What she wouldn't give for some kind of barrier between the twins and certain death, but no matter how hard she tried nothing came. This WAS Bill's realm, HERE he was God with a capital G and no mortal could stand against him. Mabel broke down in tears, what had any of this been for?

"Sorry my little shooting star but I can't have you two running around this place. Who knows what you might do."

Mabel hugged her brother's limp body tightly. This was it, they were going to die here and it was all for nothing. Bill was on top of them now, blue flames crackled to life in his hands. _Oh god oh god oh god_ Mabel's mind raced. Unconsciously her fingers closed around the chunk of concrete and metal that Mabel had picked up from the debris at the Mystery Shack. The ruin inscribed on it still glowed an acid green. Half-heartedly Mabel threw it at Bill. Hey, if she couldn't kill him and couldn't protect her brother, then at the very least she was going to cause Bill some discomfort however little that may be. The projectile made a lazy arc through the air before coming down on Bill's head. For a second it looked as though it would phase through him just like everything else. But then…

"AAAHHH! You little bitch! What did you do!?"

The glowing chunk not only stuck to him but it seared into his being causing smoke and bright green tendrils to erupt from the wound. As Bill dropped to the ground, blue flame extinguished, Mabel smiled. This was their chance to escape.

"Gotch'ya you isosceles nightmare."

Without even a second look Mabel hauled her brother to his feet. By now his sleeve was soaked crimson as blood trickled down his arm and off his elbow. He would need a doctor, but Dipper WAS going to be okay. At least that's what she kept telling herself as she half guided half dragged her brother away from the temple and back towards the portal entrance.

"wait… *cough*… Mabel wait hold on."

His voice was so quiet and hoarse Mabel wasn't sure Dipper had said anything at first so Dipper put his heel down bringing the twins to an abrupt stop that caused Mabel to lose her balance and topple over herself

*oomph* "What gives Dipper we have to make it back to the portal before it closes! Look you can barely see it now. Forget about Bill it's over alright? Let's just get out of here!"

It was true, what had once been large enough to allow two teens to fit through with relative comfort had dwindled to the point where the twins would need to go one at a time if they wanted to cross back into Gravity Falls.

"Sorry Mabel but I've got to do this not just for us but for anyone Bill might hurt in the future. It-it has to be like this."

His hand reached inside his trademark vest and pulled out a small pocket journal, the sort that could fit in the palm of your hand. Mabel shot him a quizzical glace.

"What? You didn't think I wouldn't make a copy of the real thing did you? You know me better than that."

Mabel smiled. Her brother had a miniature copy of the author's number three journal with him the whole time. She had wondered what he had been doing in his room all those nights "researching." Maybe their mission wasn't going to be a complete failure after all but they'd have to act quickly, time wasn't on their side.

"That thing you threw at him Mabel that must have been one of the protective charms Gruncle Stan used to keep Bill away from the Mystery Shack in the first place. It certainly weakened him enough. So, I'm thinking that if we can keep it stuck to him with a spell from the journal we can then bind it to him and to that temple. He won't be able to leave this place again…well, so long as the spell holds….in theory."

It was a better plan than either twin had going into this mess. As a show of approval Mabel propped her brother up on her shoulder and they began walk in the opposite direction back towards the temple. Reaching the temple they found Bill still doubled over howling in pain.

"I hope you know what you're doing Dipper."

Dipper was way ahead of her flipping through the pages he came to a stop on a page filled with Latin text.

"Bill Cipher! Audite me, et scio, te lapidem"

Bill let out a fresh howl of pain as the metal bubbled and melted into his form leaving an acid green ruin imprinted on him.

"And now to finish this." Dipper shouted over the screaming "Ego erus tibi, ut hic maneatis quidvis." A bolt of lightning whizzed past Dipper's ear making his hair stand on end.

"You rotten little punks! I was doing the right thing!

Dipper just stared ahead not even looking down at his fallen enemy. "Too many people got hurt in the process Bill and you know it."

"But I saved you and your world from that geriatric basted. Don't you understand what would have happened if I hadn't stepped in? What Stan would have done to everything? He would have unmade existence as you know it."

Now it was Mabel's turn to chime in. "Who knows maybe he would have Bill, but still doesn't excuse you for toying with Gideon and destroying the things we love."

Without another word the twins turned and walked away leaving Bill to an eternity alone in the confines of his own realm, never to bother anyone again. By the time they had reached the portal it was barely a wisp of its former self. "Dipper, listen I know I said some things earlier. But, I don't know, I was mad about Waddles and…and-"

*shush* "Don't worry about it Mabel. We can talk when were on the other side. I'll go first to see if it's safe. If I survive then I'll signal you or something okay?"

"Good luck Bro"

Climbing through the portal Dipper winked at his sister "See you back in Gravity Falls." And just like that he vanished into the tear.

*sigh* "You can do this girl." Mabel told herself as she prepared to follow her brother though the hole in space and time. By now the portal had nearly vanished. The sides had become unstable and wavy as if she was looking at it during a heat wave.

"Alright, here goes nothing." Mabel reached her hand through feeling a gentle tug on her wrist she began to lift up, ready to jump through when something slender and tight wrapped around her ankle.

"I am NOT spending eternity here alone!" Bill roared as he pulled Mabel further away from the portal. In a few minutes the tear would no longer exist and she really would be trapped there.

"Dipper! Help!"

On the other side in Gravity Falls Dipper picked himself up coughing up dirt from his landing that had brought him face first with the ground. His arm throbbed in pain, still heavily bleeding and the rest of his body ached from the night before. He looked up at the rising sun and took in a deep breath of the cold morning air. He could hear voices and sirens off in the distance.

"Looks like Wendy was able to call the police after all…Come on Mabel where are you?" His sister should have been right behind him. Any second now and she would jump through landing on top of him. They'd hug and make up and everything would go back to normal.

"…38…39…40…"

The seconds were ticking by at a painfully slow pace.

"…60…61…Come on, come on Mabel where are you?"

The portal was nearly gone now. Dipper had to squint just to see it. That was it, he wasn't going to wait any longer. Knowing full well his head might end up stuck between dimensions Dipper put his head through the portal. At first there was nothing and then…

"Dipper! Help! He's got me. Bill is back and he's really pissed."

The sight of the demon dragging his sister off was enough to make Dipper's blood boil.

"Don't worry Mabel! I'm coming!"

Dipper threw himself through the portal. He was going to set his sister free. He was going to make Bill wish he had stayed down. He was going to-

A weight on the other side stopped him from going all the way through. Time seemed to freeze, he could see his sister's panicked face, hands reaching desperately across the void to grab his. He could see Bill dragging her off to the horrid temple where he was now bound to for eternity. Then time unfroze and he could feel something tug hard around his waist as he was flung backwards through the portal and onto the forest floor.

"Mabel! Mabel! Get your hands off me! MABEL!"

The two paramedics just looked at each other. Responding to the most bizarre 9-1-1 call they had ever received they had found this kid in the backyard flailing his arms at thin air desperately trying to grab at something neither of them could see.

"Jesus, what the hell is wrong with this kid?"

Dipper punched the man in the face. "Get off me!"

His partner bore all of his weight down upon Dipper's chest.

"Dude, look at that wound. Kid is suffering from severe blood loss. Probably just hallucinating or something."

His partner just nodded in agreement, bruise already forming under his eye.

"I'll keep him here if you get the others. Tell them to bring another stretcher 'round back."

His partner sprinted out of sight leaving the pair in silence. Dipper could only stare at the paramedic with a look of absolute hatred. His punch, having drained the last of his strength, left him weak and tired as the weight of the night's events and the blood loss finally began to take their toll on his body. As his vision began to fade Dipper could see the portal close up and vanish.

"Mabel…"


	14. Things Lost

*sigh*

Passing by more of the same boring, grey decore the Gravity Falls State Prison had to offer officer Verner came to a halt in front of the security check point to cell block C.

"Burr, got to talk to the warden about turning up the heat in this place."

Though he'd never be able to explain why, he always felt a cold chill race down his spine like someone dropping an ice cube down his back every time he caught sight of that damned cell block. It had been two weeks. Two weeks since that blond little girl pulled up to his house in her limo and promised to make his life better. That was the last memory he had before it all went dark. Two weeks of nothingness before waking up in front of his TV. Apparently he had been screaming about not wanting to be left alone "there" so loudly that the super had to get involved. Now he was facing threats of possible eviction amidst an ongoing investigation into claims of

corruption and collusion with a known felon. Of course telling people he had no idea where he had been or what he had done for the past two weeks held little weight against hard video evidence, but at least they allowed him to keep his job…for the moment. Verner was thankful for the small things.

Turning to his right he headed towards the medical wing where the jail's celebrity prisoner was currently recuperating from his latest surgery/amputation. Passing through the snow white double doors the smell of antiseptic and vomit rushed to meet him.

"Gideon Gleeful, seems like you have a visitor…again." He said before allowing Dipper Pines to enter the room.

After an hour of prep and fuss from his nursing staff Gideon was propped up with several state issued pillows, wearing his state issued prison uniform, strapped to his bed with state issued handcuffs. All the while Dipper had taken a seat next to his bed as he had done every day since escaping from Bill's realm patiently wait for his chance to speak with the little psychopath. Neither said anything to the other for a long time. The silence stretched on until it became awkward. Dipper hated awkward, he began to toy with the zipper on his trademark vest.

"Sooo….. how's the leg doing today Gideon?"

"Missing, how's your arm?"

"Getting better but the doctor says sports will no longer be a career choice for me. My dad 's devastated." Sarcasm dripping from Dipper's every word.

Dipper began to drum his fingers along the side of his pant leg. _Patience Dipper, just remember be patient and he will crack._ His calming inner voice spoke to him as it struggled with the boiling rage he felt every time he was near the little monster. The memories of that night still burned deep within him.

Truth be told Dipper was only allowed to be this close to Gideon because the investigators expected his presence would cause Gideon to slip up and give information on the whereabouts of Mabel. But they both knew the truth, even if the whole nation had been captivated by the kidnapping of the charming California native girl. Mabel's face was everywhere now, on TV screens, on the front page of newspapers, everywhere. There had even been several candle light vigils praying for her safe return. Still, amidst the outpouring of love and well-wishers only Dipper and Gideon knew where she was, trapped in that nightmare realm with Bill Cipher who was doing god knows what to her.

"So…come crawlin' back for my help again eh boy?"

Dipper gripped the arm of his chair trying to restrain himself.

*sigh* "No, Gideon I'm…"

"You know what? I heard they had you in lock up for those first coupla' days. Said you were going on about such crazy things. Ha-ha, crazy, crazy, crazy." Dipper paused for a moment waiting for him to finish.

"No, Gideon I'm not begging for your help. I'm ASKING you to do the right thing, that's all." It was a distinction Dipper had to push for his own sake.

"Well so long as your "asking" for my help maybe I can ask why I should care?"

This was it, this time he was going to sock Gideon right in his smug little face and keep hitting him until the guards pulled him off.

"Because" Dipper began, finding it difficult to control the rage bubbling beneath the surface.

"Because the team doing the investigations thinks that you have Mabel hidden away somewhere and I'm not going to lie Gideon; they have good reason to. Still, you and I both know that's not the case."

"So?"

"So help yourself out here. You're the only person I know of who has been able to summon Bill. With the journals gone up in flames all I have of the author's research is this stupid pocket journal and I didn't even copy down anything about Bill when I made it. You're the only one who can reach his dimension now. Please…i-if you help me out we can talk about your case and you won't be charged with kidnapping as an added bonus a-alright."

Dipper could feel tears running down his cheeks in his desperation. _Don't show weakness. Don't you dare cry in front of him_. Dipper mentally rebuked himself. Gideon seemed unimpressed.

"A-at least you can bump your charges down to three counts of attempted homicide and destruction of private property. They might not even charge you as an adult if I…if I testify on your behalf."

No response

"Well? Come on this is the best deal you're going to get!"

"YOU COST ME MY LEG Dipper Pines!" Gideon screamed at the top of his lungs

"And you nearly did the same to Wendy!" Dipper shot back. *sigh* "Look Gideon, Bill is the one to blame here. He was the one puppeting Pacifica, using her to wind you up like a toy soldier." Dipper could swear a hint of sadness played out over Gideon's face for a second. "I mean come on man, the guy screwed with you pretty good and then threw you away when you became useless to him. Are you going to let him get away that? J-just help me out…please."

The pair sat in silence again Dipper waiting for Gideon's response. Finally…

"Alright fine I MAY tell you what you need to do but you have to drop the attempted murder charges first, Got it? And no tricks either. I…I'm plum tired of tricks."

_God damnit_ Dipper swore to himself. "I can drop the charges on my end but I can't speak for the others, they won't back down Gideon. You know that.

*sigh* "Fine, deal."

**000**

The midnight air blew around Dipper as he stepped over the police tape and into the ruins of the Mystery Shack. Even with the moon as bright as it was, it was still too dark to see inside. Dipper quickly flicked on his flashlight. Entering through the gift shop he couldn't believe the state his home had been left in. Support beams had crumbled under the weight of their burden causing part of the second floor to rain down upon the cash register. The paraphernalia that had kept his uncle's business afloat for the past few years was scattered about, ripped and torn. The floor was splintered and broken leaving part of the room inaccessible, Dipper could see the remnants of the hidden basement which supposedly had contained the interdementional portal for which all this trouble had been started.

It was hard for him to imagine that just a few weeks ago this place had been decorated for his and Mabel's return. What he wouldn't give to wear his wolfboy costume one more time for a group of tourists his uncle had conned into the Mystery Shack. Carefully navigating his way through the living room he climbed over the couch which had sunken into the floor after the foundation was destroyed by the Gideon-bot. Jumping off from the edge of the sofa, Dipper's foot caught in-between cushions as he fell face first onto the floor boards below. He caught sight of the rusted nails upturned when the floor had given way. There wasn't enough time. He threw out his hands in front of him just as gravity took him.

*oomph* "Whoa that was close."

His head had come inches from being impaled on the rusted nails. He was going to have to be more careful from here on in. Bill may be gone but this house was still a deathtrap. Side stepping several holes in the floor he made it to the stairs or at least what used to be the stairs. Most of the structure had been punched in by the Gideon-bot making a straight walk upstairs impossible. _Just gotta stick to the railing. I can make it. _He told himself as he edged his way up the broken staircase and to the attic room he and Mabel had shared. Looking down at his watch the digital read out blinked 11:30 P.M. back at him, it was nearly time.

"Gah, can't believe it took me an hour to get through this place."

Trying the handle he found the door to his room wouldn't budge, something had fallen down in there and now barred his way. He tried again putting more of his weight into it trying to clear the obstruction on the other side.

"Come on come on. I'm not leaving, not now."

Finally he decided to ram the door with his shoulder. Bad idea. "ARGH!" He screamed. He could feel the stitches in his shoulder coming undone as the sleeve of his shirt began to grow dark red, but that would have to be dealt with later, he was too close to stop now and whatever he had done had moved the door enough to let him slide into the room.

As compared to the rest of the house, the twins' former bedroom was actually well lit. The Gideon-bot had destroyed most of the room leaving an opening for the moon light to pour in. But even in the lunar light Dipper could see something underneath his bed glowing an intense electric blue. His flashlight began to flicker the closer he got to it so he turned it off. He wouldn't be needing it for this part anyways.

"Good thing the Gravity Falls investigative unit is so terrible at their jobs. I don't know how anyone could've missed this."

Pulling the poorly wrapped crystal out from under his bed Dipper breathed a sigh of relief. _Thank god it wasn't destroyed with the rest of the house_. Looking down at the electric blue shard in the palm of his hand Dipper couldn't believe that it had only been a week since he was standing in middle of that strange room with the crystal sphere. He could still feel the pocket knife in his hand as he chipped away at the sphere, the dancing figures hypnotizing him as Mabel shouted in the background. It all seemed like a life time ago. Mabel had only tried to cheer him up and he let her down. But not this time.

"It all hinges on you little guy."

According to Gideon the crystal shard was to be the center piece of the ritual acting as the gateway's power source. Unfortunately the shard was very small considering what he would need; the portal could only be opened for a few seconds assuming he could actually do it. This level of dimensional magics was said to require certain talent passed down from generation to generation. All of this rode on the hope that he could open the portal at Mabel's exact location and pull her out before the opening closed for good. There were risks to him as well. What those risks might be Dipper didn't know and Gideon never said. But for Mabel, he would do anything and everything just to hear one of her terrible jokes or model one of her latest sweater creations. And yet…the chances of pulling this off was slim to none, winning the lottery would be an easier task. Dipper gave the shared a second glance. Maybe he shouldn't do this. Gruncle Stan was still in the hospital, suffering from a stroke after the surgery to fix his heart had complications. The shard's restorative powers could bring his uncle back to his old self…if Dipper even wanted that. Then there was Wendy. Gideon had messed up her leg pretty bad. It didn't need amputation but she wouldn't be winning any lumberjack competitions again and the doctors believed she would have a limp for the rest of her life, even with physical therapy. Finally there was himself to consider, he could already feel the restorative sparks within the crystal trying to escape and sink into his shoulder…it would be nice to raise his left arm above his head again. So many choices to make and not enough of the crystal orb remained to help them all.

*sigh* "God, I hope I'm doing the right thing."


	15. Everything is (not) Alright

*Bzzt bzzt*

Dipper lifted off his haunches and poked his head over the slick frozen wall. It was still, clear, no one in sight and yet he could feel someone's eyes on him from just beyond the tree line. His breath came in clouds as he steadied himself trying to get a better look.

*Bzzt bzzt*

"Would you just shut up?"

*Bzzt Bzzt*

"Oh for the love of…gotta turn this thing off before she finds me."

Dipper reached into his pocket yanking his glove off with his teeth and as he switched the IPhone off before it could alert his stalker to his presence. The selfi of him and Wendy faded as the screen went black.

*crack*

Too late the sound of a tree branch breaking just off his right told him that his enemy was closer than he had originally thought.

"Clever girl." He muttered under his breath.

So this was how it was going to be huh? This was it, his zero hour. Dipper plunged his hands into the icy cold snow blanketing the ground. Cupping his hands together he began molding the perfect ball hiding a second one away for a quick reload. He was going to flush her out with his first shot and while she was making her escape he'd hit her with the second.

"Perfect plan Dipper, perfect plan."

Without warning he stood up and… "Incoming!"

*whomp*

Before he could even react he had been hit. The snowball crashed into the scar on his shoulder as the force of the impact spun him around causing him to land face first in a pile of snow. He couldn't believe it, how had his plan have failed?

"Ah! I was so close. How did you sneak up on me like that?"

"Duh, I'm the alpha twin remember? I'll always be better than you. You're just gonna have to get used to it Dipper."

Grumbling, Dipper stood up and turned on his phone. Wendy had been sending text messages all day:

Dude where r u? call me bck k!

Hey call me. Dad finally got us wifi.

Brd here. Txt me txt me txt me txt me.

Yo, facetime tonight?

Dipper smiled. Wouldn't miss it for the world, c u l8r. Send.

It was hard to believe it had been six months since the twins had left Gravity Falls. Thinking about that town brought Dipper back to the night he had pulled Mabel from the portal inside the dilapidated Mystery Shack. The gateway had opened up just above her. Dipper had never been so relieved in his life to see that chocolate brown curtain of hair situated on and around the trademark hand stitched sweater. She had just been sitting there staring off into the distance completely numb to her brother's presence. He called her name once, twice, a third time. No response. He reached out and hooked his arms under hers pulling with all his might. The rest was a blur. All he could remember from that point on was his sister's bear hug threatening to crush the life out of him. The sweet smell of her perfume gaging his nostrils. The tears streaming down her checks causing a wet spot to form on his signature vest. It was like regaining a limb that he had lost long ago. He couldn't function without her. He hated that he had ever debated using the shard for anything else.

Since then Mabel had her good days and her bad days. Sometimes she was the bright cheery sister he remembered but then there were other days where she would stay in her room never leaving for anything. Dipper could hear his sister sobbing on the other side of the door. God only knows what Bill had done to her in that short period of time she had been trapped with him. Mabel had never spoken about it to anyone not even him but whatever it was it had lasting effects that only years of therapy could erase.

*Pfft* "See that right there is why you lost Dipper. You were too focused on your "girlfriend" to see me coming." Mabel teased as she stood over her brother's shoulder reading the conversation on his phone

Despite the cold Dipper blushed. "Yeah whatever. I mean it's not like we're technically boyfriend and girlfriend…yet."

Wendy had recovered better than what the doctors had projected for her. She could run just fine but still walked with a slight limp. Somehow she was able to maintain a positive attitude through it all going so far as to refer to her stumble as a battle scar, enthusiastically telling anyone the story of what happened if they would listen. As for their relationship both Dipper and Wendy had decided that they may have said and done things they probably shouldn't have the night of Gideon's little tantrum. The fact that they were both drunk at the time didn't help Dipper's case any but they still remained friends. And yet during those first few days in the hospital, high on pain killers as they laid in beds across from one another, Dipper and Wendy had promised that if by Dipper's eighteenth birthday neither he nor Wendy were in a relationship they would try dating and see how it would play out.

"Just got to make sure she stays single for five more years." Dipper had kept repeating in his head for days afterwards. So far so good.

"Here bro let me help you with that."

Dipper reached out his right hand and grabbed Mabel's extended arm allowing her to pull him to his feet. He shivered as he brushed the snow from his face. No one could believe it but there was snow several feet deep in Californian town of Piedmont. It was all anyone could talk about. The weather men on TV had mentioned something about freak snow storms due to global warming or whatever but who cared. Dipper and Mabel had missed the last week of school because of the weather anomaly. As they began to walk home Mabel stopped for a moment.

"You remember what today is? Right, Dipper?"

He couldn't decide on what she meant. It was either Gideon's trial or…

"The sixth month anniversary of Gruncle Stan's passing is today right? Don't worry I didn't forget."

Stan had fought hard and the doctor's had fought harder to keep Stan Pines from dying but there was only so much medicine could do for a frail old man who stroked while recovering from a heart attack. Whatever he had been trying to accomplish with his machine, whatever plans he may have wanted to enact went with him. Dipper was still uncertain how to feel about his uncle's death.

"Well, yeah, I mean that is pretty important." Mabel said, eyes cast downward. "But what I meant was the final decision for Gideon's trial is today. I mean with that defense attorney Pacifica bought for him…Dipper you don't think he might actually get away with it do you?"

*sigh* he should have known she would bring this up. "I don't know Mabel and, quite frankly, I don't care."

"Yeah but don't you think it was odd that we were only called to testify for just that one time. I mean we're key witnesses and…"

"Mabel! Please I just don't want to talk about it okay? What will happen will happen. Que sera sera and all that jazz. Alright?

Mabel glared at her brother. "Fine. Whatever then."

In the six months since Gravity Falls Mabel had become somewhat of a national celebrity as her face had been plastered everywhere in the frantic search for America's darling little angel. It was quite a shock to the whole nation when her brother had turned up with her clutching at his sides in the small town of Gravity Falls. Everyone was more shocked when Dipper, keeping his promise, announced to the nation that she had been lost for several days in the woods and not kidnapped by Gideon as all had previously thought. That plus six months time had erased the incident from people's minds completely. Throw in a charming smile and the world's most respected defense attorney and it really did look like Gideon might walk.

Pacifica's involvement on the other hand had been a mystery to both Dipper and the media as a whole. Who was this convicted felon with puffy white hair to the heiress of a multi-million dollar corporation? He was a nobody that's who and yet when questioned about it her response to the Channel 6 TV crew was:

"I don't know why I just feel a…a sort of connection to him. Like we've met before or something. He seems…misunderstood."

It was clear that, despite not remembering anything, Bill's possession had some lingering effects on the debutant. _Whatever_ Dipper thought _they deserve each other_.

Their boots crunched over the snow as the twins walked home in silence. Dipper cast his sister a sideways glance. _Great now she's mad at me again. _She was building up to another one of her sobbing fits she had taken to since her return. Still, Dipper couldn't blame his sister, not this time, he didn't mean to come off as apathetic to the whole trial thing. It was as if the trial was a ghost hanging over him constantly haunting him with the memories of Gruncle Stan, Waddles, and Gideon himself. Like one of Bill's nightmares, he had been trapped with the constant reminders for the past six months. _That all ends today…one way or another_ Dipper told himself.

Getting through the front door Mabel stripped off her coat and boots before bolting upstairs, slamming her bedroom door behind her causing Dipper to wince. Following suit he ran upstairs turning the opposite direction to go to his room. He paused, hand hovering over the doorknob.

*sigh* "Damnit Mabel."

Turning around he faced his sister's bedroom door.

*Knock Knock*

"Hey, Mabel you in there?"

No response

"I just want to talk that's all. I'm coming in."

Dipper braved the door handle praying he wasn't about to catch his sister half dressed.

"What?" Mabel sat in the middle of her bed mascara running down her cheeks. Had she been crying?

Dipper tentatively inched his way into the room keeping part of his body covered in case she decided to throw something. Looking around Dipper could see that his sister had been hard at work redecorating after her return. Posters with the latest boy bands plastered over them where torn down, whole stack of teen gossip magazines had vanished over night, even her stuffed animal collection had been scrapped. In their place there was nothing, emptiness. The room was slowly becoming more and more bare of that special Mabel touch, that candy floss explosion of stickers and good vibes.

"Wow, so this is what you've been up to in here. It's all so very…um…bare bones chic." The word chic rolled off of Dipper's tongue funny, he'd never had to use it before. "So, uh, Mabel I'm not going to pretend to know what all of this is." He said gesturing to the empty room. "Or what exactly it is that you're going through, but you know I'm here to talk whenever and if ever you want."

No response. He was going to leave when…

"Dipper? Why did you do it? Why did you say those things to the police? They're going to let Gideon go now because of you, because of what you said. How could you let him get away with it?

"Mabel, you know why. I-I made a promise with him in order to get you back and…"

"Yeah but you didn't have to keep your promise you know! You could have just let him rot. You SHOULD have just let him rot." Tears began streaming down Mabel's face again. "Af-after what he did to *sob* Waddles, and Gruncle Stan, and Wendy, an-and ME Dipper. Huh, what about me!? I-it just can't have been for nothing, right?"

Dipper had now edged his way onto the end of his sister's bed. Tears were leaking from her eyes as she struggled feebly to move away from him without success. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a tight hug, the warmth of her body slowly enveloping him. The twins sat there in silence, Dipper holding onto the shaking frame of his sister as she let out all of her frustration. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she stopped sobbing and lifted her head away from his chest. There was a huge Mabel shaped tear stain on his shirt.

"I-I'm sorry." She stammered.

Dipper looked down at her. "Meh don't worry about it…*sigh* Mabel you know all of that wasn't for nothing, right? I mean you've just gotta look at the positives. For one, Bill won't be bothering anyone ever again. Two, Gideon still might get some jail time I mean the verdict is still out so who knows? At least the whole world knows what a creep he is now. But the most important thing is that you're still here. A-and I would trade all of the Mysteries, video games, and Wendys in the world just to have you here safe and sound."

Mabel gazed up at her brother wide eyed. "All of the Wendys?"

"Um, well, maybe not ALL of them but most. Mabel? You know I love you right? I mean you can take as much time with this whole empting out your room thing as you like but I'm just glad you're here, that's all."

Mabel sat up and punched her brother in the arm. *Ha-ha* "Stop being so sappy dork."

Dipper stood up off the bed, rubbing his arm. "Alright, alright I just came by to see if you could still laugh or whatever. Mission accomplished, righteous bro-bro leaving the building." He said as he headed for the door but something stopped him.

"Hey Dipper? Thank you. I mean it, thank you for everything…even putting up with me and my craziness."

"No problem Mabel." He said as he opened the door and left.

**000**

*Bzzt bzzt*

Another text message from Wendy:

Dude, I am literally dying of boredom here. Facetime me yo!

Smiling to himself Dipper clicked on the app and after a few seconds Wendy's freckled face came onscreen.

*argh* "Finally, things are seriously boring here without you and your sister dude." She said.

"Yeah, well, things are boring here without you." Dipper shot back. This was good banter right? Flirting? He hoped so.

"Yeah well maybe I could move out to California with you Dipper and then we could be bored together."

Dipper's cheeks went a little flush at this. "Y-yeah, no totally. It would be cool and…yeah."

Wendy's face darkened for a moment. "Hey Dipper, it's been a while since we talked but I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry to hear about your uncle man. I mean Stan was a really good guy and I mean that whole thing with Gideon today…I just-I just feel for you, ya know?"

Dipper just stared ahead. "Yeah, well, you know these things happen. *sigh* I don't know, I think I would rather just forget about all of it."

Suddenly Wendy noticed the remnants of Mabel's tear stain on Dipper's shirt. "Uh, Dipper your shirt man. Are you sure you're really okay?"

Thinking back on the day's events Dipper looked into the screen. "Yeah, Wendy. I think…I think everything is going to be alright from now on."

* * *

YES! It's over! Thank Yeezus it's finally all over! Seriously though this was a long fic and for those of you that had the patience to read the whole thing through I'd just like to say thanks for sticking with it. Really I mean that. Anywho, apologies for the cheezy title but man are titles hard to think of. Ah well, thanks for reading and please don't forget to leave a review…they are my life blood.


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